WealthPLAN Partners LLC Sells 1,057 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WealthPLAN Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,276 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,057 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META traded down $11.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $683.62. The stock had a trading volume of 15,609,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $645.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.12. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

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.