Hyperion Capital Advisors LP Sells 1,550 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hyperion Capital Advisors LP cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,932 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,550 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 7.8% of Hyperion Capital Advisors LP's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Hyperion Capital Advisors LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $0.51 on Wednesday, reaching $656.54. 4,396,257 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,472,600. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $569.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $605.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 99,324 shares of company stock valued at $68,637,452. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.