Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,967 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,680 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.9% of Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of META stock traded up $3.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $659.36. 12,322,206 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,518,745. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $569.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $605.57. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total value of $383,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,629,887.50. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,932 shares of company stock valued at $69,021,252 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.