Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $576.66.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock valued at $202,384,548 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $516.86 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $493.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.