Smith Anglin Financial LLC Sells 177 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,731 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $352,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,037,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waycross Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 64,066 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,012 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, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $611.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $595.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $555.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

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.