Clarity Capital Partners LLC Sells 193 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Clarity Capital Partners LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 577 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Clarity Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 8,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,706,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. BCR Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. BCR Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 14,572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,532,000 after buying an additional 4,404 shares during the period. Avion Wealth boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 1,197 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Jmac Enterprises LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 1,492 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $643.13 and a 200 day moving average of $587.57. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

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.