Sepio Capital LP Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sepio Capital LP lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,376 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,904 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.5% of Sepio Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

META opened at $567.36 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $577.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $516.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $499.60. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total transaction of $453,015.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,845 shares in the company, valued at $18,944,071.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total transaction of $453,015.85. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,944,071.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 342,358 shares of company stock worth $179,431,101. Corporate insiders own 13.71% 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.