Jennison Associates LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,118,778 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 444,817 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.9% of Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.43% of Meta Platforms worth $3,935,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $481.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $494.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $401.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.00, for a total value of $1,777,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,796,825. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock valued at $666,288,408 in the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

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.