EMC Capital Management Sells 5,696 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

EMC Capital Management trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 94.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 304 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,696 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $254,766,000 after acquiring an additional 27,453 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,902 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $17,690,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 8,437 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,830,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthBridge Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,303,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of META stock opened at $697.46 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $616.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $568.60. 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 market cap of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 673,878 shares of company stock valued at $416,269,904 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.