Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by McClarren Financial Advisors Inc.

McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 64.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 566 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the third quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,985 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total transaction of $14,445,949.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business’s 50-day moving average is $643.13 and its 200-day moving average is $587.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.