Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,649 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 523 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $11.90 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $506.07. 3,871,718 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,891,867. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $493.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $396.70. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $518.15.

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.