Regal Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,696 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 751 shares during the quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $571,000. Montag & Caldwell LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC now owns 1,676 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $981,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 105.6% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 70,868 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $41,494,000 after acquiring an additional 36,392 shares during the period. Kane Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,197,000. Finally, Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 27,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $16,291,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $684.10.
Get Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,787,586. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $608.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $607.21. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
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.
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