Linscomb Wealth Inc. Sells 50 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,758,146,000 after purchasing an additional 289,207 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

META stock opened at $656.47 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $655.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $599.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $623.50, for a total transaction of $257,505.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,692,495.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 797,320 shares of company stock worth $517,913,331 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.