Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by James Investment Research Inc.

James Investment Research Inc. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of James Investment Research Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $683.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $647.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $591.24. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 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, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. 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.