MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Sells 920 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 98,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 920 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.6% of MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $57,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. This represents a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price objective (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $598.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $382.08 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.