Latitude Advisors LLC Sells 66 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Latitude Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,476 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.8% of Latitude Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $736.67 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $638.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $584.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 period last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

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.