Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 970 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,976 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 970 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.5% of Kennedy Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Kennedy Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $15,943,062.60. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 451,119 shares of company stock valued at $304,709,239 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $11.88 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $531.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,562,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,749,020. 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 company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50 day moving average price is $628.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.40. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $698.40.

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.