GraniteShares Advisors LLC Sells 1,804 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,946 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,804 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.5% of GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Stockton lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $499.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $493.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $396.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.