Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Lessened by Avory & Company LLC

Avory & Company LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.8% of Avory & Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Avory & Company LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $657.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $601.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.