Element Wealth LLC Sells 148 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Element Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of Element Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Element Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 21.5% during the fourth 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. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $332,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.0 %

META stock traded up $14.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $496.10. 14,709,242 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,100,711. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $494.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $401.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.00, for a total value of $1,777,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,796,825. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock valued at $666,288,408 over the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.