Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. Sells 26 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 774 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,107,000. Signet Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 16,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,649,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,014 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 9,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2 %

META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $358.61 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $594.58 and a 200 day moving average of $554.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.