Ingalls & Snyder LLC Has $28.07 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,220 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $643.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $587.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. 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%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.