Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 356,141 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 116,721 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.7% of Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $208,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 450,214 shares of company stock valued at $304,162,130. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $692.93.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $531.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $624.88 and a 200-day moving average of $609.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued 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 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.