Marvin & Palmer Associates Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Marvin & Palmer Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.4% of Marvin & Palmer Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Marvin & Palmer Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $658.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $602.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total transaction of $260,008.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares in the company, valued at $11,546,130.40. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 note 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 company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.