Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,116 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.0% of Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the second quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.4% during the second quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,445,000 after purchasing an additional 3,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Williams Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,650,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total transaction of $250,596.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,125,777.76. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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. Insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $617.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $595.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $554.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.07, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $358.61 and a 12-month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.