Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Oxford Wealth Group LLC

Oxford Wealth Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,041 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 3.0% of Oxford Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Oxford Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.67.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of META opened at $500.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $598.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $605.69. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change 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 yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total value of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 342,662 shares of company stock worth $237,476,709 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.