Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,944 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 582 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $323,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $975,000. BG Investment Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $231,000. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $617,000. Finally, Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,675 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $656.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $608.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 586,213 shares of company stock valued at $387,084,349 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.