Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,543 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 540 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total transaction of $251,526.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,148,086.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total value of $251,526.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,148,086.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367 in the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $8.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $485.58. The stock had a trading volume of 15,212,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,086,339. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.54 and a fifty-two week high of $523.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $467.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $376.07. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

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.