Shorepath Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Shorepath Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,461 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,125 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 8.6% of Shorepath Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Shorepath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Grandview Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,184,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. TPG Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. TPG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 6,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,085,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 1,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 978 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $594.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $595.02 and its 200 day moving average is $554.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.