Bailard Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bailard Inc. trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,698 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,182 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of Bailard Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 51,263 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 124,139 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,354 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,380 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Milestone Resources Group Ltd lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Milestone Resources Group Ltd now owns 560,070 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $198,242,000 after acquiring an additional 155,197 shares during the period. Finally, Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 22,734 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,047,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 over the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $493.50. 36,273,029 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,341,254. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $495.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.