Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 65.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 492 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 923 shares during the quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $703.77 on Thursday. 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 market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $644.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Company 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.