Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after buying an additional 946,871 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

META opened at $497.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $494.29 and a 200 day moving average of $397.43.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total transaction of $7,568,131.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.53.

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.