Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Sells 215 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 858 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $502,000 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 added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $647.98.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,357 shares of company stock valued at $249,545,428 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $14.68 on Monday, reaching $601.18. 5,441,014 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,157,732. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $358.61 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $593.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $553.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.