Marion Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Marion Wealth Management lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,122 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of Marion Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,014 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 9,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,984 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,701,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 48,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,414,000 after purchasing an additional 7,369 shares during the period. Finally, Northstar Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 63.0% during the 4th quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,525 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares in the company, valued at $6,456,828. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $594.58 and its 200 day moving average is $554.18. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 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.