Munro Partners Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Munro Partners reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,865 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 49,540 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.4% of Munro Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Munro Partners’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $124,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Arete Research set a $718.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.22.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $663.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $654.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $706.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,359,548. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.