Blue Grotto Capital LLC Has $19.34 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Blue Grotto Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,198 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 13,802 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.3% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,578,191. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,117.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META opened at $644.23 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $665.92 and a 200-day moving average of $706.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.28%.

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.