Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,469 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,124 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.3% of Sentry Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $702.48.
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Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META traded up $21.10 on Wednesday, hitting $687.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,007,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,486,792. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $581.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $612.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,135 shares of company stock worth $34,481,779. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
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.
Further Reading
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