Clarius Group LLC Trims Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Clarius Group LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,533 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 790 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of Clarius Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Clarius Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third 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. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $369,774,000 after buying an additional 661,923 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $3.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $616.46. The company had a trading volume of 11,584,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,100,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $381.16 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $597.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $557.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total transaction of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.