Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,597 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,373 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 4.4% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $85,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $656.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $608.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.