Opinicus Capital Inc. Sells 169 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Opinicus Capital Inc. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,270 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 169 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $728.56 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $729.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $636.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $580.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Scotiabank increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Company 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.