Troy Asset Management Ltd Sells 7,961 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Troy Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,961 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.8% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $54,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Horizon Investment Services LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 8,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,238,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 1,554,033 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $909,902,000 after buying an additional 42,509 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,451 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $303,000. Finally, Vertex Planning Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $576.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $655.23 and a 200 day moving average of $608.48. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.