Vestor Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,517 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 22,495 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 3.3% of Vestor Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Vestor Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $43,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $718.31.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 17,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 586,213 shares of company stock valued at $387,084,349 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4 %
META stock traded down $8.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $602.58. The company had a trading volume of 10,412,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,822,863. The business has a 50 day moving average of $656.12 and a 200 day moving average of $608.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.
About Meta Platforms
(
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.
Further Reading
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Which stocks are likely to thrive in today's challenging market? Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of ten stocks that will drive in any economic environment.
Get This Free Report
