Fiduciary Group LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fiduciary Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,329 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,026,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $443.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 32,645,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $494.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $405.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.