Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Has $4.20 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 20.4% in Q1, holding 7,291 shares valued at approximately $4.2 million.
• Institutional investors are actively adjusting their positions, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holdings in Meta by an astounding 67,172.9%, now owning over 23 million shares worth approximately $13.5 billion.
• Meta recently reported a 21.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $47.52 billion for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and showcasing robust financial performance.

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,291 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,873 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.8% of Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total transaction of $393,054.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,005,049.68. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $765.11, for a total value of $12,124,698.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 290,263 shares of company stock worth $211,724,057. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $3.43 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $765.87. 7,597,659 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,441,953. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $651.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

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.