Sicart Associates LLC Sells 3,013 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sicart Associates LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,013 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.2% of Sicart Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sicart Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $369,774,000 after purchasing an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $370.95 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $596.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $556.39.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

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.