Davis Selected Advisers Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Davis Selected Advisers decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,492,597 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 222,289 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 8.5% of Davis Selected Advisers’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,459,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The sale 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 725,689 shares of company stock valued at $473,072,897. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $658.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $602.08.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.