Summit Financial LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,649 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,837 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Summit Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Summit Financial LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $33,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hoey Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 119,431 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,928,000 after acquiring an additional 11,578 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,908,954 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,117,712,000 after purchasing an additional 316,377 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 93,014 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $54,461,000 after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares in the last quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,610 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,285,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, Partners in Financial Planning bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $361,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating 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 given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.55.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 584,113 shares of company stock valued at $385,838,234. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META traded down $35.30 on Thursday, hitting $548.63. 20,256,497 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,279,599. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $653.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $610.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. 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 payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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