South Street Advisors LLC Sells 802 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

South Street Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,334 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.5% of South Street Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. South Street Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in 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 period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded up $23.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $619.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,717,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,812,137. The stock's 50-day moving average is $655.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $606.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.90, 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, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.

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.