Elite Wealth Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Elite Wealth Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 37.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,524 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,105 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.3% of Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792 in the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $491.45. The company had a trading volume of 4,729,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,975,201. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $493.16 and a 200 day moving average of $396.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

About Meta Platforms

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.