Mutual Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mutual Advisors LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,050 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,064 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.8% of Mutual Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $26,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.66 and a twelve month high of $652.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $601.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $560.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction 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 $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.