Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $48.76 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,275 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 964 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 23,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 706,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DHK Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on META. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

META opened at $612.77 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $596.78 and its 200 day moving average is $556.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.