tru Independence LLC Has $1.54 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

tru Independence LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. tru Independence LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $611.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $564.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

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.