Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Carnegie Lake Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 72.2% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,228 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,138,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares during the period. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the third quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fusion Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC now owns 749 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $638.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $584.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date 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 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

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.