Valued Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valued Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 468 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $611.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $564.44. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

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.