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

Mendota Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 55.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,210 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,508 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.0% of Mendota Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. 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 institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after buying an additional 208,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $594.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.