Johnson Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,006 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 1,989 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,716 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,477,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $925,000 after buying an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Three Seasons Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Finally, Voya Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 9,214 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,448,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $679.02.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,954,832.58. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

META opened at $547.27 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $587.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.44. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio 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.