Ceera Investments LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,688 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 796 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 4.8% of Ceera Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Ceera Investments LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.26.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on META
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,760,768.50. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $590.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The business's 50 day moving average is $657.96 and its 200-day moving average is $602.00.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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.
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