Burford Brothers Inc. Sells 135 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Burford Brothers Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,163 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.5% of Burford Brothers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Burford Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total transaction of $9,169,692.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,588,349.12. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $711.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $624.43 and its 200 day moving average is $572.13. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $718.90.

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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

About Meta Platforms

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.