GS Investments Inc. Sells 510 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GS Investments Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,904 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 510 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.7% of GS Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. GS Investments Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds 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 valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. UBS Group raised 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ META traded down $15.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $610.98. The company had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,907. The firm's 50 day moving average is $656.24 and its 200 day moving average is $608.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 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.