Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,350 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.1% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the second quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,870,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 846 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 101.2% during the second quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.88.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

META traded up $0.46 on Friday, hitting $599.70. 4,219,892 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,280,861. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $343.40 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $589.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $548.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 327,116 shares of company stock valued at $198,171,544. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.