Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,664 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.6% of ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $56,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total value of $8,023,999.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 420,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $259,869,360.30. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at $25,888,979.95. This trade represents a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 410,536 shares of company stock worth $249,024,275. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $646.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded up $4.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $615.46. 7,375,008 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,297,995. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $592.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $552.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.