Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 111 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.3% during the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,348,000 after buying an additional 2,106 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the third quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC now owns 19,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,028,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 13,708 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,115,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $430.17. 18,396,504 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,427,248. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $229.85 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $492.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $406.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock valued at $620,451,095 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.