Flossbach Von Storch AG Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Flossbach Von Storch AG decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 190,255 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 35,931 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of META traded up $11.90 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $506.07. 3,871,718 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,891,867. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $493.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $396.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $518.15.

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.