LMR Partners LLP Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LMR Partners LLP reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 65.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,504 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 48,058 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 11,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,927,000 after buying an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 472,992 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $276,942,000 after acquiring an additional 27,940 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 7,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,559,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,065 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,380,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $592.49 on Monday. 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 market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $568.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $604.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 119,894 shares of company stock valued at $83,475,065. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

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.