Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 225,272 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 71,196 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.3% of Mondrian Investment Partners LTD's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $131,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position 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 worth $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 451,119 shares of company stock worth $304,709,239. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.2 %
Shares of META traded down $12.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $531.48. 14,102,971 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,773,842. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $628.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $609.40. 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 market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $692.93.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
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.
Featured Articles
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
Wondering where to start (or end) with AI stocks? These 10 simple stocks can help investors build long-term wealth as artificial intelligence continues to grow into the future.
Get This Free Report
