Vestor Capital LLC Sells 22,495 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vestor Capital LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 73,517 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 22,495 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 3.3% of Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $43,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 723,400 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $414,103,000 after purchasing an additional 16,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Overbrook Management Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.4% in the third quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 27,082 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,503,000 after purchasing an additional 7,654 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock valued at $408,968,491 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $596.25 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $655.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $606.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.