Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,799 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 303 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 5.1% of Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,689 shares of company stock valued at $109,097,842 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $592.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $568.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms 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.