RiverPark Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

RiverPark Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,469 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,108 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 5.4% of RiverPark Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. RiverPark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after acquiring an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,629,000 after purchasing an additional 12,301 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Evolutionary Tree Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,607,000. Finally, Point Break Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,481,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of META stock opened at $561.09 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $570.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $522.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.