Pure Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pure Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,049 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 233 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the second quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $819,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% in the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 90,060 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,410,000 after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the second quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 111,306 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $56,123,000 after purchasing an additional 4,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $598.87 and its 200-day moving average is $558.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $382.08 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.98.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.