KP Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

KP Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.6% of KP Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. KP Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Caxton Associates LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 159.1% during the second quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 86,238 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $63,651,000 after purchasing an additional 52,954 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the second quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 152,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $112,732,000 after acquiring an additional 9,689 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the second quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 3,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,752,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $1,183,000. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 486 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp restated an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Arete Research set a $718.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $644.23 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $665.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $707.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,067,594.40. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,578,191 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.