Donaldson Capital Management LLC Sells 1,423 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,995 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,423 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $2.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $502.41. 2,168,380 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,033,943. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $492.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $394.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,459,469 shares of company stock valued at $691,726,161. 14.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

About Meta Platforms

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.