Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s 9th Largest Position

Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.4% of Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $889,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 340,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $195,066,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of META opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $654.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $597.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, 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 $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total transaction of $14,268,740.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock worth $517,503,564. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.