Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,883 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the third quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 101,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $58,179,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrow Financial Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 13,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $590.64 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $657.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $602.00. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409. Company 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.