Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Dupont Capital Management Corp

Dupont Capital Management Corp lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,790 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,323 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.5% of Dupont Capital Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Dupont Capital Management Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $26,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $11.04 on Friday, reaching $647.49. The stock had a trading volume of 19,039,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. The firm's fifty day moving average is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $560.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.