Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $1.97 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,283,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,445,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Williams Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,650,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.69, for a total transaction of $21,721,069.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $617.12 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $595.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 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.