Rice Partnership LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rice Partnership LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. West Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 562 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. DDD Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.4% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,767 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the second quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 1,614 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $814,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Embree Financial Group raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the second quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 1,642 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,280,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $516.86 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $505.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $493.93. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $576.66.

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.