Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Has $616,000 Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,052 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 525 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business's 50 day moving average is $648.73 and its 200-day moving average is $594.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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