Trivest Advisors Ltd Has $214.88 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Trivest Advisors Ltd lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 37,000 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 9.8% of Trivest Advisors Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Trivest Advisors Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $214,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $596.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $655.38 and its 200-day moving average is $605.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 have sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued 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 $718.31.

Meta Platforms 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.