Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Decreased by Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC

Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,291 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.7% of Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

META stock opened at $596.25 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $606.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be 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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 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 $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 622,431 shares of company stock valued at $408,968,491 in the last quarter. 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.