HS Management Partners LLC Has $81.02 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HS Management Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 138,375 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,115 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 5.6% of HS Management Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Black Swift Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $3,868,000. GPM Growth Investors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73.1% in the fourth quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 7,275 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,260,000 after buying an additional 3,073 shares during the last quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 1,160 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $756,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 725,081 shares of company stock worth $472,702,625. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $657.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $601.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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