T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,045,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 463,647 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.7% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Meta Platforms worth $1,197,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $500.28 on Wednesday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $598.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $605.69. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,954,832.58. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 342,662 shares of company stock worth $237,476,709 in the last three months. 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.