Pacer Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 227,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,395 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $133,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $611.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $564.44. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Company 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.