Mendota Financial Group LLC Sells 6,508 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mendota Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 55.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,210 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,508 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.0% of Mendota Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Mendota Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 903 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 4,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,377,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $322,000. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 1,833 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $594.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $595.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.81. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

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.