Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 63.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,883 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,255 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 5,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,728 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 24,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,769,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 7,676 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 71,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,158,000 after buying an additional 11,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock worth $620,451,095. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $431.88. The company had a trading volume of 10,935,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,335,898. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $229.85 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $493.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $406.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

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.