Garrison Point Advisors LLC Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Garrison Point Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,939 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $610.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Scotiabank increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

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.