Egerton Capital UK LLP Sells 227,047 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Egerton Capital UK LLP cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 801,442 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 227,047 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 5.4% of Egerton Capital UK LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Egerton Capital UK LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $469,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $658.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 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) last released 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,760,768.50. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. 13.71% of the stock is currently 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.