Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 126 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,122 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 10,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,781,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 48,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,100,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 8,235 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 68,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,361,000 after buying an additional 17,295 shares during the period. Finally, First American Trust FSB boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. First American Trust FSB now owns 38,215 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,526,000 after buying an additional 608 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,459,469 shares of company stock worth $691,726,161 over the last quarter. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $1.67 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $501.90. 5,184,557 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,079,299. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $492.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $394.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.