III Capital Management Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

III Capital Management decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 62.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,610 shares during the quarter. III Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $568.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $576.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $512.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $498.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $660.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $578.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total value of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,314,333.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total value of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 359,060 shares of company stock worth $188,031,963. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.