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Blue Trust Inc. Sells 11,193 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms logo with Computer and Technology background

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 47.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,457 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 11,193 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Check Out Our Latest Report on META

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $11.22 on Friday, reaching $683.62. The stock had a trading volume of 15,609,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $645.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Meta Platforms Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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