Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Gruss & Co. LLC

Key Points

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Gruss & Co. LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 40.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,500 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.8% of Gruss & Co. LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Gruss & Co. LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after acquiring an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $10.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $761.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,992,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,465,054. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $709.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $648.93.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 199,509 shares of company stock worth $141,509,323. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms 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.