WestEnd Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WestEnd Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 61,322 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,440 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Well Done LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. HT Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. HT Partners LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 8,806 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,117,000 after buying an additional 2,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Professional Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total value of $198,977.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total value of $198,977.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,001,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.0 %

META traded down $4.74 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $489.12. 9,126,516 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,803,041. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $464.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $375.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $202.54 and a 52-week high of $523.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.