JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Sells 30,878 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 182,223 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 30,878 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $106,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $14.74 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $654.17. The company had a trading volume of 4,770,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,459,822. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $568.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $605.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total value of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,201,693.12. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,992 shares of company stock valued at $82,831,650 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.