Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Sells 2,514 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,514 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.7% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $596.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $655.38 and a 200 day moving average of $605.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.