Dodge & Cox Sells 1,877 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dodge & Cox reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,810,837 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,877 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox owned approximately 0.15% of Meta Platforms worth $2,231,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $606.80. The firm has a market cap 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $255,234.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,057,950. This trade represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $684.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.