Heron Bay Capital Management Sells 170 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Heron Bay Capital Management decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,502 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.2% of Heron Bay Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Heron Bay Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $655.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $607.11. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is currently 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.