Ethos Financial Group LLC Sells 27 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ethos Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,419 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the period. Presidio Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 661 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 86,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 741 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on META. Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $657.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $601.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.