Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 404 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the third quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 75.0% in the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 3,019 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 20.3% in the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 7,008 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Finally, Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $204,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of META traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $404.27. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

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.