Rational Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rational Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,374 shares during the quarter. Rational Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,613,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 6,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,878,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 37,026 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,679,000 after purchasing an additional 8,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 465 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $683.62 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $647.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $591.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 809,804 shares of company stock valued at $523,576,440 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.