Joule Financial LLC Sells 49 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Joule Financial LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 742 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold a total of 495,269 shares of company stock valued at $300,888,396 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $612.77 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average is $597.37 and its 200 day moving average is $557.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $370.95 and a 52 week high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on META. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.