Archer Investment Corp Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Archer Investment Corp cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,805 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,387 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.0% of Archer Investment Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during 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 buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $494.17 on Thursday. 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 $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $493.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for 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 was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $518.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.