Summit X LLC Sells 25 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Summit X LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,966 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Summit X LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.5% during the third quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 7,308 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.3% during the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 18,662 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $658.01 and a 200 day moving average of $603.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares in the company, valued at $21,760,768.50. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.