Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Has $717,000 Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,225 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 602,612 shares of company stock valued at $368,414,542 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $674.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $682.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $606.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $562.78.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target (up previously from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

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.