HMS Capital Management LLC Sells 64 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HMS Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of HMS Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. HMS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $643.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $587.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. 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. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.