Callahan Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Callahan Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 106,718 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 5,697 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 5.9% of Callahan Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Callahan Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $62,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,471,822,000 after acquiring an additional 550,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $538,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at $21,738,325. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of META traded up $12.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $669.88. 9,932,976 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,715,486. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company's fifty day moving average price is $648.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $594.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.