Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Herbst Group LLC

Herbst Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,234 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 203 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 3.0% of Herbst Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Herbst Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. 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 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 495,269 shares of company stock worth $300,888,396. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

META stock opened at $612.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. 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 twelve month low of $370.95 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $597.37 and its 200-day moving average is $557.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.