Black Cypress Capital Management LLC Sells 2,876 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Black Cypress Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,876 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 6.8% of Black Cypress Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Black Cypress Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reduced their price target 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. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.38.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of META stock opened at $543.57 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $628.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock worth $326,680,904 over the last ninety days. Company 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.