DAVENPORT & Co LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 500,460 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21,050 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $293,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $704.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $718.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $621.57 and its 200 day moving average is $571.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This trade represents a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 700,241 shares of company stock valued at $434,752,368 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted 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. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.83.

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.