Freedom Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,363 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 532 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during 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 period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 28,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 378,583 shares of company stock valued at $259,991,992 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $16.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $501.46. The company had a trading volume of 9,160,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,772,481. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 price is $603.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $606.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $681.67.

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.