Sowell Financial Services LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sowell Financial Services LLC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,824 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,264 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of Sowell Financial Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.

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Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $590.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $657.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $602.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.85, for a total value of $22,445,236.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms 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.

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