Ethos Financial Group LLC Sells 27 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ethos Financial Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,419 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after buying an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $657.45 and its 200-day moving average is $601.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.