Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Weatherly Asset Management L. P.

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 over the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $14.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $496.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,985,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,131,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $494.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $401.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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