Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Decreased by Covey Capital Advisors LLC

Covey Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,523 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 597 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.3% of Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,758,146,000 after purchasing an additional 289,207 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,270 shares in the company, valued at $6,361,815.60. This represents a 6.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,866 shares in the company, valued at $23,212,039.50. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $658.24 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $651.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $595.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.