Main Street Group LTD Sells 25 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Main Street Group LTD cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the quarter. Main Street Group LTD’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6%

META opened at $656.03 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $569.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $605.57. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.43, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares in the company, valued at $26,341,737.09. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,324 shares of company stock worth $68,637,452 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

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.