Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,471,822,000 after buying an additional 550,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $648.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $594.06. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.