Slagle Financial LLC Has $292,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Slagle Financial LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 499 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Slagle Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ META opened at $576.74 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $655.23 and its 200 day moving average is $608.48. 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 $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.