Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,704,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $581.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.05. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.