Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Triple Frond Partners LLC

Triple Frond Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,376 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,279 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 6.7% of Triple Frond Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Triple Frond Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $64,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $566.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $621.15 and a 200-day moving average of $635.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.