Lingohr Asset Management GmbH trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 63.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 713 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,253 shares during the period. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META stock traded down $15.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $610.98. The company had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,907. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $656.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $608.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased 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 report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, 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 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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