Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Otter Creek Advisors LLC

Otter Creek Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,102 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,798 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 3.3% of Otter Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Otter Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Sollinda Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sollinda Capital Management LLC now owns 674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Partners purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $287,000. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 10,597 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,066,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6,612.5% in the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 537 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total transaction of $14,268,740.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 797,320 shares of company stock valued at $517,913,331. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $656.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $655.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $599.11. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.525 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.