Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Varenne Capital Partners

Varenne Capital Partners decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 51.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 75,220 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 80,250 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 13.0% of Varenne Capital Partners’ holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Varenne Capital Partners’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $576.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 simple moving average of $655.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $609.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.