Redmond Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Redmond Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,761 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 707 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,179,000. Wealth Management Nebraska bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $386,000. Variant Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $638,000. Finally, Bell Bank raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 17,483 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,236,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $668.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $653.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $596.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.