Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Trimmed by Sustainable Growth Advisers LP

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,250,084 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 252,708 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.7% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $731,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,006,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $979,000. MGO Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. MGO Private Wealth LLC now owns 964 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Phillips Financial Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 34,076 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $604.41. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.