Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $19.85 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Everence Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $493.16 and a 200-day moving average of $396.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

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.