Varenne Capital Partners Has $44.04 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Varenne Capital Partners lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 75,220 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 80,250 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 13.0% of Varenne Capital Partners' investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Varenne Capital Partners' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,477,780.40. This represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 584,410 shares of company stock valued at $386,031,454. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Mizuho upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $576.36. 21,103,853 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,265,824. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50-day moving average price is $655.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.90. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. 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%.

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.