Lbp Am Sa Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lbp Am Sa trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 144,336 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,758 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Lbp Am Sa’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $84,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $657.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $604.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock valued at $427,997,036. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.