Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY has reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 16.4%, owning 16,210 shares after selling 3,170 shares during the first quarter.
• Meta Platforms' shares are currently trading at $767.37, down 2.3%, with a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion.
• Recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $7.14, outperforming analysts' estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.6%.

Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,210 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,170 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 3.2% of Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of META stock traded down $17.86 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $767.37. The company had a trading volume of 16,482,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,961,045. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $725.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $655.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 268,251 shares of company stock valued at $199,981,827 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

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.