Renaissance Technologies LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Renaissance Technologies LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 92.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 597,566 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $543.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $628.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $609.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost 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 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.38.

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.