Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Lessened by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 705,638 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 42,584 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.9% of Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $411,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its position in Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Tenere Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 47.6% in the third quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 31,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,753,000 after buying an additional 10,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 176.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total value of $250,596.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,125,777.76. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 535,725 shares of company stock valued at $356,391,449. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $504.73 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $610.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.