Unisphere Establishment Sells 16,500 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Unisphere Establishment trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 45.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 16,500 shares during the quarter. Unisphere Establishment’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total transaction of $9,035,660.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $146,918,094.69. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $581.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $604.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.