Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC

Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 25,627 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,736,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 65,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,090,000 after acquiring an additional 5,169 shares during the last quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 605 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Black Swift Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,868,000. Finally, GPM Growth Investors Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 73.1% during the 4th quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 7,275 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $657.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $601.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.