Congress Park Capital LLC Sells 3,169 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Congress Park Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,709 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,169 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.1% of Congress Park Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Congress Park Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 23,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,391 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 706,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after acquiring an additional 17,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DHK Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $252,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,612,808.90. This represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $596.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $556.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.