Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Lowered by Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.

Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,300 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.8% of Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

META stock opened at $596.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $655.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $605.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.