Unisphere Establishment Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Unisphere Establishment lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 45.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 16,500 shares during the quarter. Unisphere Establishment’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guardian Capital LP increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 429.5% in the 4th quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 17,283 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,119,000 after buying an additional 14,019 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 16,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,639,000 after acquiring an additional 5,268 shares during the period. GG Group Ventures LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. GG Group Ventures LLC now owns 953 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Wick Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 701.1% in the 4th quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,390 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,570,000 after acquiring an additional 3,842 shares during the period. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,258,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $681.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $581.11 and its 200 day moving average is $604.05. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $427.11 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.