Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,190 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,195 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.6% of Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the second quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 90,060 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,410,000 after buying an additional 5,250 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the second quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 111,306 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $56,123,000 after buying an additional 4,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the second quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 target price (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $598.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $558.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $382.08 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.