Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 73.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,947 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 21,510 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $704.28. The company had a trading volume of 12,743,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,336,421. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $686.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $637.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.