Mcrae Capital Management Inc. Sells 66 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mcrae Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,986 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 952,593 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $571,336,000 after purchasing an additional 15,212 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $684,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 1,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Howard Bailey Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 602 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,973 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $644.55 and a 200 day moving average of $588.38. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 value of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at $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 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.