Nikulski Financial Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nikulski Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,042 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $1,559,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 208.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 259 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 886,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $447,171,000 after buying an additional 36,981 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,165,000 after buying an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 602,612 shares of company stock worth $368,414,542. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ META opened at $674.33 on Wednesday. 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 $387.10 and a 52 week high of $682.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $606.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $562.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

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.