Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,928 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 417 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $656.80 and its 200-day moving average is $604.84. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.