Capital Analysts LLC Has $2.45 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Analysts LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,182 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $925,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Three Seasons Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $725,000. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 9,214 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,448,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Knightsbridge Asset Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Knightsbridge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 652,767 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $382,202,000 after acquiring an additional 39,752 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $547.27 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $587.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $604.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,954,832.58. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total transaction of $14,508,376.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $376,234.40. The trade was a 97.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $679.02.

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.