Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by FLC Capital Advisors

FLC Capital Advisors reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,914 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.1% of FLC Capital Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. FLC Capital Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna upped 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, Guggenheim raised 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. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $382.08 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $598.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.