Lindbrook Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lindbrook Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,099 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Lindbrook Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $657.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $601.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.