Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Trimmed by KLCM Advisors Inc.

KLCM Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,337 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. X Square Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the third quarter. X Square Capital LLC now owns 10,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,016,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $1,610,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 29.3% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,880 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,945,000 after acquiring an additional 3,144 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $683.62 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $647.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $591.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 809,804 shares of company stock valued at $523,576,440. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.