Troy Asset Management Ltd Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Troy Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 93,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,961 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.8% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $54,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after buying an additional 1,066,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $576.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $655.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $608.48. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.