RiverPark Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

RiverPark Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,469 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,108 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 5.4% of RiverPark Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. RiverPark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $561.09 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $570.23 and its 200 day moving average is $522.73. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total transaction of $8,876,444.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,384 shares in the company, valued at $6,050,140.64. This trade represents a 59.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.