Encompass More Asset Management Sells 532 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Encompass More Asset Management lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,545 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 532 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 603,032 shares of company stock valued at $368,666,614 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price target (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9 %

META stock opened at $659.88 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $604.04 and its 200-day moving average is $561.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve month high of $663.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.