Canopy Partners LLC Has $4.95 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Canopy Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,453 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.9% of Canopy Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 535,725 shares of company stock worth $356,391,449. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $504.73 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $648.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $610.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.