WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 1,182 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WINTON GROUP Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 22.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,116 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,182 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during 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. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of META traded down $25.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $576.74. 17,561,028 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,238,405. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, 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 current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $655.23 and a 200-day moving average of $609.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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. 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 equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.