Pictet North America Advisors SA Reduces Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pictet North America Advisors SA lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,557 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,678 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $11.22 on Friday, reaching $683.62. The company had a trading volume of 15,609,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $645.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $589.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $717.90.

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.