F M Investments LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

F M Investments LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,425 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.1% of F M Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. F M Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $5,260,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,795,000 after buying an additional 2,397 shares during the last quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $332,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,392,425 shares of company stock worth $666,533,986 over the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $14.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $496.10. The company had a trading volume of 14,985,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,131,002. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $495.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $402.50. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

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.