Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $4.59 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,967 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.0% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Edge Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $500.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $492.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $394.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,459,469 shares of company stock worth $691,726,161 over the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

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.