Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.5% of Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Edge Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total value of $216,354.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,913,722.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,257,291 shares of company stock valued at $612,916,087 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded up $9.02 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $439.19. The stock had a trading volume of 20,269,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,450,998. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $492.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $406.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.55.

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.