Sculptor Capital LP Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sculptor Capital LP lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 182,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 231,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $91,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,265,862,000 after buying an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Voyager Global Management LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after acquiring an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total transaction of $8,502,988.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,113,116.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,113,116.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 342,358 shares of company stock valued at $179,431,101. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $567.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.62, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $514.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $499.02. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $577.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.