Avior Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Avior Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,287 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,316 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $11.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $647.49. 19,039,689 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $385.66 and a 1-year high of $652.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $601.93 and a 200-day moving average of $560.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.