Claret Asset Management Corp Sells 1,701 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Claret Asset Management Corp reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 53,235 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,701 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 4.9% of Claret Asset Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Claret Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,984,502 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,261,012,000 after purchasing an additional 530,094 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $501.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $606.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.