Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Sells 20,500 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329,541 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20,500 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.1% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $192,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,510,470. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares in the company, valued at $146,918,094.69. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 673,878 shares of company stock worth $416,269,904 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of META opened at $704.19 on Wednesday. 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 $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $710.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $618.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $570.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms 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.