Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Perennial Investment Advisors LLC

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 455 shares during the quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 64,956 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,032,000 after buying an additional 5,643 shares in the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,308,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 347.9% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 3,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,877,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day moving average of $609.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. 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 (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.