Lingohr Asset Management GmbH Has $422,000 Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lingohr Asset Management GmbH decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 63.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 713 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,253 shares during the period. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,011 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $120,268,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 863,611 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $505,653,000 after purchasing an additional 167,788 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 4,770 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,793,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Finally, Benchstone Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $596.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $655.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $605.74.

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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.