Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 298,249 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 45,077 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 3.8% of Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $196,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $566.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock's 50-day moving average is $621.15 and its 200 day moving average is $635.89.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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 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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