Capital Investment Counsel Inc Has $5.77 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of META opened at $658.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $651.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $595.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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 firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232. 13.71% of the stock is currently 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.