Clean Yield Group Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Clean Yield Group decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 52.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $32,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 9,503 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 2,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 25,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,908,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the second quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 11,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,813,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.00 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $606.86. 7,746,019 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,499,863. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business’s 50-day moving average is $593.63 and its 200-day moving average is $553.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $358.61 and a 12-month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.