Everest Management Corp. Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Everest Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 913 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.5% of Everest Management Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 414,293 shares of company stock worth $282,029,046 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $521.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $621.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $608.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $690.79.

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.