Apriem Advisors Sells 110 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apriem Advisors decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,958 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Financial LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Convergence Financial LLC now owns 6,204 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,633,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $814,000. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 201,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $117,848,000 after buying an additional 10,469 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $640.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $654.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $598.70. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.