Narwhal Capital Management Sells 6,255 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Narwhal Capital Management lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,822 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 6,255 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.3% of Narwhal Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Narwhal Capital Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $12.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $689.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,861,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,245,674. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $608.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $563.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $698.98.

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.