Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Sells 3,415 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 4.7% during the first quarter, now owning 68,616 shares valued at approximately $39.5 million.
• Meta Platforms reported a robust EPS of $7.14 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $47.52 billion, marking a 21.6% increase year-over-year.
• Institutional investors currently hold 79.91% of Meta Platforms’ stock, reflecting significant interest from various hedge funds, including GAMMA Investing LLC, which increased its holdings by 67,172.9%.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,616 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,415 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $17.86 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $767.37. 16,482,270 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,961,045. The business's 50-day moving average price is $725.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $655.75. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 268,251 shares of company stock worth $199,981,827 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

About Meta Platforms

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.