Parthenon LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,540 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 935 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 4.9% of Parthenon LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Parthenon LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $45,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. tru Independence LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 2,597 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,592 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,606 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,351 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $31,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 3,324 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,194,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
Insider Activity
In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total value of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 165,079 shares of company stock worth $105,624,755. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $837.72.
Get Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7%
META opened at $688.55 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $627.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $651.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.31.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
Meta Platforms, Inc NASDAQ: META, formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.
Meta's core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.
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