Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Sells 177 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,292 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,260,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397 shares during the last quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 in the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded up $14.37 on Tuesday, reaching $496.10. 14,985,989 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,131,002. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $494.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $401.23. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.28.

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.