Palisade Capital Management LP Has $13.56 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Palisade Capital Management LP lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 326 shares during the period. Palisade Capital Management LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP grew its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 368,499 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $215,760,000 after acquiring an additional 73,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $600,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total transaction of $383,081.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,818,837.41. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Pivotal Research reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of META stock opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $662.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $631.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.