LGL Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LGL Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 71.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,888 shares during the quarter. LGL Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $975,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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. Insiders have sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock worth $620,451,095 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $432.78. 12,853,144 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,357,072. The company has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $493.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $406.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

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.