Csenge Advisory Group Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Csenge Advisory Group lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,520 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,355 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $683.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $647.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $591.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.