Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Lowered by Institute for Wealth Management LLC.

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,180 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 418 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd 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 raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 946,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $20.68 on Friday, reaching $481.12. The stock had a trading volume of 19,233,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,067,928. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $494.29 and a 200 day moving average of $397.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 have sold a total of 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.