SCS Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SCS Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,657 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,662 shares during the period. SCS Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 248,463 shares of company stock worth $175,403,314. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $17.36 on Wednesday, reaching $537.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,047,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,320,713. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.11 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $581.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $604.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $681.95.

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.