Merrion Investment Management Co LLC Has $653,000 Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Merrion Investment Management Co LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,115 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $254,766,000 after purchasing an additional 27,453 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 26.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,902 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $17,690,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 8,437 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,830,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthBridge Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after buying an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,510,470. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

META opened at $689.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $613.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $567.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.