Sculptor Capital LP Acquires 43,500 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sculptor Capital LP raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 53.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $73,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 10,440 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,113,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 62,229 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,436,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,695 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,920,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 261,989 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $153,397,000 after buying an additional 35,771 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $640.34 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $571.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $606.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $447,530.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,270,899.46. This represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,852 shares of company stock worth $41,665,958 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.