Select Equity Group L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Select Equity Group L.P. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,688 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,430 shares during the quarter. Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $50,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 907 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.77, for a total transaction of $585,713.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,982,161.73. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total value of $447,530.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,270,899.46. The trade was a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,852 shares of company stock valued at $41,665,958. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $640.34 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $571.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $606.72. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

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.