SageView Advisory Group LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,178 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,310 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.5% of SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $543.57 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $628.35 and its 200 day moving average is $609.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

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 the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.38.

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.