Financial Freedom LLC Has $597,000 Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Financial Freedom LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Financial Freedom LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $381.16 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $598.00 and its 200 day moving average is $558.31. The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. This trade represents a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Company 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.