Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,333,503 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 429,815 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.8% of Janus Henderson Group PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 0.37% of Meta Platforms worth $5,465,072,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position 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 worth $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Roth Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $696.45.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total transaction of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,656 shares in the company, valued at $15,201,693.12. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business'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 transaction of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,992 shares of company stock worth $82,831,650 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3%
Shares of META traded up $14.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $654.22. 4,770,724 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,459,822. The business has a 50 day moving average of $568.53 and a 200 day moving average of $605.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.
About Meta Platforms
(
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.
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