Avitas Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,395 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value 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 $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $714.52 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $627.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $575.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $725.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.