Parthenon LLC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,924 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,280 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 5.2% of Parthenon LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Parthenon LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $43,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of META stock opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $648.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $594.06.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total value of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
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.
Read More
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of seven stocks and why their long-term outlooks are very promising.
Get This Free Report
