Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,675 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 894 shares during the quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 6,975 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,084,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,931,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Haven Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $679,000. Finally, BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,069,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $586.00 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $655.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

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.