Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,104,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 319,548 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.60% of Meta Platforms worth $7,615,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.6% during the second quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 22,879 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,535,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.4% during the second quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 1,029 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the second quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,207 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,155,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the second quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,215 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,150,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $7.63 during trading on Monday, hitting $520.37. The company had a trading volume of 6,676,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,162,728. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $491.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,838 shares in the company, valued at $15,377,575.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,377,575.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.69, for a total transaction of $431,404.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,197,355.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price 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. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

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.