New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,121 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 715 shares during the quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $704.19 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $710.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $618.86 and a 200 day moving average of $570.21.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,971 shares in the company, valued at $146,918,094.69. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 673,878 shares of company stock worth $416,269,904 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

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.