Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Sells 161 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 514 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Arvin Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,136,000. SIH Partners LLLP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,592,000. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 893,682 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $523,260,000 after purchasing an additional 119,136 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $484.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $603.33 and a 200 day moving average of $606.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,096,741.18. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 378,583 shares of company stock valued at $259,991,992. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $681.67.

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.