Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,552 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 266 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.3% of Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton grew its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America lifted 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. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $17.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $483.88. 15,443,377 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,024,172. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $494.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $397.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at $31,086,721.50. The transaction 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.