Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Sells 32 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,058 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,270,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 39,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,991,000 after purchasing an additional 8,537 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,891 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 10,648 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,687,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock valued at $620,451,095. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $2.45 on Tuesday, reaching $430.17. 18,396,504 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,427,248. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $492.83 and a 200 day moving average of $406.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

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.