Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Columbia Asset Management

Columbia Asset Management reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 634 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 39,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,026,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Scholtz & Company LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Scholtz & Company LLC now owns 16,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,859,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 160,717 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $95,022,000 after acquiring an additional 22,988 shares in the last quarter. OV Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. OV Management LLC now owns 10,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,226,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $33,539,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of META stock opened at $586.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $653.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 583,505 shares of company stock valued at $385,495,911. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

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.