Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 10,290 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,290 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.4% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $64,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,945,799,000 after acquiring an additional 111,735 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $404.85. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,574,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Company 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.