Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Has $249.86 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 426,740 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,005 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.8% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $249,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the second quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 23,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 706,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DHK Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $370.95 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $596.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $556.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.