Skylands Capital LLC Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Skylands Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,515 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 695 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $12.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $430.86. 15,096,489 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,344,424. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $405.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.