MCF Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MCF Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,719 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.66 and a 52 week high of $652.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $560.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.