Balentine LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Balentine LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 60.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,162 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $641.19 and a 200-day moving average of $585.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.