Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Pingora Partners LLC

Pingora Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,970 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.5% of Pingora Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Pingora Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.5 %

META opened at $533.15 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $590.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given 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 a consensus price target of $676.55.

Meta Platforms 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.