Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,700 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 13.9% of Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $61,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $592.49 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $568.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.22. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.