LongView Wealth Management Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LongView Wealth Management cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. LongView Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in 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 last quarter. Kendall Capital Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 1,753 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Intrepid Financial Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,669 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Riverview Capital Advisers LLC now owns 843 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $612.77 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $370.95 and a 52-week high of $638.40. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $596.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $557.04.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.