Skylands Capital LLC Sells 695 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Skylands Capital LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,515 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 695 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after acquiring an additional 3,093,715 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,117,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953,704 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $12.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $430.86. The company had a trading volume of 15,096,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,344,424. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $405.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $15,853,952. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.