Better Money Decisions LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Better Money Decisions LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 714 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 321 shares during the period. Better Money Decisions LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,471,822,000 after acquiring an additional 550,852 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total transaction of $9,169,692.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,588,349.12. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,936,593.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $714.52 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $725.01. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $627.23 and a 200-day moving average of $573.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 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.