Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,588 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,918 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.4% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,568,000 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. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META opened at $683.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $647.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $591.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.