Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Reduced by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 341,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,817 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.4% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $196,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 256,949 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $150,446,000 after purchasing an additional 15,104 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 875 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 197,615 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $115,706,000 after purchasing an additional 32,968 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 115,260 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $67,486,000 after acquiring an additional 8,375 shares during the period. Finally, Essential Planning LLC. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,405.2% in the fourth quarter. Essential Planning LLC. now owns 19,778 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,603,000 after acquiring an additional 19,339 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

META opened at $607.60 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 50 day moving average price of $658.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $603.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.