Investment Advisory Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Investment Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 99 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $3.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $503.30. The stock had a trading volume of 4,076,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,068,113. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $492.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $394.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at $13,585,110. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,459,469 shares of company stock valued at $691,726,161 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 14.03% 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.