T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Sells 463,647 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,045,430 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 463,647 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Meta Platforms worth $1,197,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 343,989 shares of company stock worth $238,129,347. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $12.88 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $533.15. 13,724,832 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,710,742. 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 twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $590.37 and a 200 day moving average of $604.75.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.