Mutual Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mutual Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,050 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,064 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.8% of Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $26,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,559,000. Susquehanna International Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 219.0% during the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna International Group Ltd. now owns 11,161 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,628,000 after buying an additional 7,662 shares in the last quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $93,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.8% in the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 6,891 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,475,000 after buying an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $560.33. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $652.00. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.