Lane & Associates LLC Sells 30 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lane & Associates LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,471,822,000 after purchasing an additional 550,852 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,212,039.50. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

META stock opened at $668.20 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $653.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $596.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.