Rhumbline Advisers Sells 64,459 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,246,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 64,459 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.2% of Rhumbline Advisers’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.17% of Meta Platforms worth $2,486,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $694.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $645.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $589.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.