Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC Has $241,000 Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 411 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 24 shares during the quarter. Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $322,000. Shira Ridge Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 1,833 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,184,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TPG Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. TPG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock worth $256,996,450 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $594.25 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $554.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.