Gabelli Funds LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gabelli Funds LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 200,473 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,576 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.9% of Gabelli Funds LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Gabelli Funds LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $117,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,057,950. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction 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 $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. The business's fifty day moving average is $608.14 and its 200 day moving average is $606.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.