Steph & Co. Sells 89 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steph & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 57.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,888,979.95. This represents a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $612.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $596.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $555.63. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $370.95 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.