ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,686 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 590 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,000. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $3,269,000. Tanager Wealth Management LLP increased its position in Meta Platforms by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 13,497 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,777,000 after purchasing an additional 4,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,258 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $20.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $481.07. The stock had a trading volume of 25,215,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,967,675. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $494.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $398.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

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.