Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,161 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,887 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,522.10. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s 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 $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 583,505 shares of company stock worth $385,495,911. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $586.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $653.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $610.68.

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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. 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 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.