Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Trims Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 219,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,197 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.1% of Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $128,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 716,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $410,352,000 after purchasing an additional 14,754 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.5% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 1,443 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.0% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the third quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 17,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,034,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $638.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $582.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.