Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,629 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.0% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased 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.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $636.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $600.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $559.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $385.66 and a 12 month high of $638.40.

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 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price target (up previously from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.