Herbst Group LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,234 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 203 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.0% of Herbst Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Herbst Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. now owns 27,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,985,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.5% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 99,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,237,000 after purchasing an additional 40,504 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 165,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $83,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 265,756 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $133,999,000 after purchasing an additional 14,831 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.
Insider Activity
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 495,269 shares of company stock valued at $300,888,396 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META stock opened at $612.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $597.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $557.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $370.95 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.
Meta Platforms Company 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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