Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,721 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.3% of Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $612.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $370.95 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The firm 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $596.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $557.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.