Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is GQG Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

GQG Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,317,553 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,098,551 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 8.1% of GQG Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. GQG Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,455,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Princeton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 24,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $14,314,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dudley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $656.24 and a 200 day moving average of $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.