Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC

B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 83.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 12,184 shares during the quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock 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. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $606.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $562.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $682.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a P/E 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total value of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 602,612 shares of company stock valued at $368,414,542. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.