CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,290 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 698 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $12.58 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $603.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,091,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,122,902. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $593.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $553.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.98.

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.