HMS Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HMS Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.3% of HMS Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. HMS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,964 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Castle Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 13,350 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,817,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 599 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective 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. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $643.13 and a 200 day moving average of $587.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total transaction of $14,445,949.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.