Pegasus Asset Management Inc. Sells 36 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pegasus Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,992 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 3.8% of Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $648.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $594.06. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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 period last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. 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 presently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.