Liberty Wealth Management LLC Has $2.56 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,363 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 654,355 shares of company stock worth $428,564,164. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $607.60 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $658.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $603.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.