Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,026 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.5% of Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 343,068 shares of company stock worth $237,676,335. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $520.79 on Thursday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $594.44 and its 200 day moving average is $605.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 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.