Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Reduced by Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,536 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 5.5% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

META stock opened at $728.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $636.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $580.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $729.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total transaction of $8,162,353.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.