Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,781 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 802 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $6,885,000. Finally, KKM Financial LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 8.1% in the third quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 13,130 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,516,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of META stock traded down $22.08 on Friday, hitting $580.50. The stock had a trading volume of 8,123,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,206,572. The company's 50 day moving average price is $655.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $607.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.