Pacifica Partners Inc. Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pacifica Partners Inc. reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Pacifica Partners Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock valued at $301,101,199 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.8 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $617.12 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.81. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.