Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 in the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 10.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $441.38 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $208.88 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $495.08 and its 200-day moving average is $403.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.