Sage Investment Advisers LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 573 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the period. Sage Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total value of $238,507.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,166,093.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.49, for a total transaction of $15,464,732.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total value of $238,507.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,166,093.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 232,607 shares of company stock worth $113,147,760 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $4.33 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $517.45. 4,727,801 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,405,822. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $479.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.