Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Sells 20 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,982 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

META opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $641.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $585.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.