Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Andra AP fonden

Andra AP fonden reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 32.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 115,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 55,900 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Andra AP fonden’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total value of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 725,689 shares of company stock valued at $473,072,897 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.56 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $658.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $602.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.