Cacti Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cacti Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Cacti Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $218,000. Bray Capital Advisors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the second quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 2,768 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 58.8% in the second quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,360,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% in the second quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,264,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 82,425 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,560,000 after buying an additional 15,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $640.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ META traded up $14.05 during trading on Thursday, reaching $599.56. 4,955,738 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,682,313. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $588.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $547.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $343.17 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.73, for a total value of $241,080.49. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,973,238.58. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 326,211 shares of company stock worth $197,633,759. 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.