Blue Whale Capital LLP Sells 61,452 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blue Whale Capital LLP reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 44.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 75,677 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 61,452 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.3% of Blue Whale Capital LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $701.38.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $5.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $541.26. 10,190,904 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,719,927. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $631.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $609.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total transaction of $22,133,083.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904. Company 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.