Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,166 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.2% of Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of META opened at $676.49 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $682.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $608.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $563.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five 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 MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.41.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.