Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by MIG Capital LLC

MIG Capital LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 94,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 13,033 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 5.7% of MIG Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. MIG Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $55,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 64.6% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. now owns 87,826 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,423,000 after acquiring an additional 34,476 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 24,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,104,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 4,056 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 351,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $205,807,000 after buying an additional 95,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nutshell Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $7,004,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day moving average of $610.27. 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 market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Company 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.