Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,716 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Northwest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 22,188 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,991,000 after buying an additional 5,204 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 10,205 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,975,000 after buying an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. May Barnhard Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $556,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,409,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,576,930. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $657.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $604.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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 dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.