Premier Fund Managers Ltd Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,120 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 780 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Hyperion Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the first quarter. Hyperion Capital Advisors LP now owns 29,527 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $14,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.7% in the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 26,390 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,814,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $559.14 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50-day moving average of $572.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $523.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

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.