Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Cut by White Pine Investment CO

White Pine Investment CO trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,253 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 274 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.7% of White Pine Investment CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 716,701 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $361,375,000 after buying an additional 54,084 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,925,000 after buying an additional 1,347 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 589.3% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 199,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $100,391,000 after buying an additional 170,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 93.3% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 295,212 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $148,852,000 after acquiring an additional 142,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price 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. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.66 and a 1 year high of $652.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $601.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.12. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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 net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.