Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Has $102.54 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 177,916 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,207 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 5.0% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $102,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 152,263 shares of company stock worth $104,638,750. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $720.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $677.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $635.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.12, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $729.38.

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.