Sky Investment Group LLC Sells 76 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sky Investment Group LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after purchasing an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given 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 price target of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $382.08 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $598.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $558.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm 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, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.