Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 68.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 690 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,497 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1 %

META opened at $494.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $493.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.15.

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.