By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Redmond Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,761 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.
View Our Latest Research Report on META
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,738,325. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,361,815.60. This represents a 6.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.5 %
NASDAQ:META opened at $668.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $653.18 and a 200-day moving average of $596.12.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.
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.
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