Godsey & Gibb Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,083 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $611.30 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $595.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $555.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.