United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 628 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 150,496 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 628 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $88,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $692.93.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $531.48 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $624.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total transaction of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 450,214 shares of company stock valued at $304,162,130. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.