Ellevest Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ellevest Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,607 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,095 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.6% of Ellevest Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Ethic Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 133,866 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,380,000 after acquiring an additional 34,367 shares in the last quarter. Eschler Asset Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Eschler Asset Management LLP now owns 6,246 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,657,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 104,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $61,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,364 shares in the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 159 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,562 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,283,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,795 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.82, for a total transaction of $25,622,776.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,689 shares of company stock valued at $109,097,842 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.79 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $569.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

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.