By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Jag Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 16,271 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 4.0% of Jag Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Jag Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.4 %
META opened at $597.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $657.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $601.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,546,130.40. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 761,002 shares of company stock valued at $495,449,598 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
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.
Further Reading
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