Varenne Capital Partners Has $44.04 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Varenne Capital Partners lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,220 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 80,250 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 13.0% of Varenne Capital Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Varenne Capital Partners’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $576.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $655.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $609.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.