Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Sells 76 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $929,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of META opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $581.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.05. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $427.11 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.