Gradient Investments LLC Sells 6,483 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gradient Investments LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 61,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,483 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 88,542,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,410,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548,671 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $4,223,148,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of META stock traded down $8.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $485.58. The stock had a trading volume of 15,212,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,086,339. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $467.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $376.07. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $202.54 and a 52-week high of $523.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total value of $198,977.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,984 shares in the company, valued at $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total transaction of $198,977.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.