Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,849 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,613 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 7.5% of Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $648.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.