Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 971 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,167 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 971 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $684.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company's 50-day moving average is $608.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $606.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings 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 issued 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.