IPG Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,655 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,241 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.1% of IPG Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. IPG Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $625,000. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $262,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %
META stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $576.36. The stock had a trading volume of 21,103,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,265,834. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $655.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.90.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid 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 0.36%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total value of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.55.
View Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
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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