Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Cut by Truxt Investmentos Ltda.

Truxt Investmentos Ltda. lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,150 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,720 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 6.8% of Truxt Investmentos Ltda.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Truxt Investmentos Ltda.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Maytree Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 739.1% in the 4th quarter. Maytree Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after buying an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,059,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,091,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $639,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 2,187 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 813,030 shares of company stock worth $525,952,077 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $673.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $650.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $594.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

About Meta Platforms

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.