Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Sells 622 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 622 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.6% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares in the company, valued at $19,641,281.24. The trade was a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total transaction of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $9.08 on Monday, hitting $606.78. The company had a trading volume of 6,767,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,382,023. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $593.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $553.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.