a16z Perennial Management L.P. Reduces Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

a16z Perennial Management L.P. lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,136 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 4,766 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.6% of a16z Perennial Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. a16z Perennial Management L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $595.19 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company's fifty day moving average is $604.51 and its 200 day moving average is $625.53. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Benchmark initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $835.64.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders sold 36,393 shares of company stock valued at $22,141,163 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.

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