Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,922 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 3.5% of Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $382.08 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $598.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $558.76.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms 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.