Firestone Capital Management Sells 623 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Firestone Capital Management lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,461 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 623 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Firestone Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Firestone Capital Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,273,234 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,344,721,000 after buying an additional 229,717 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 55,817 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $32,171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,086 shares during the last quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.0% during the first quarter. Elite Wealth Management Inc. now owns 25,726 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $14,827,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348 shares during the period. Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 2,203 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 63.3% in the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 83,369 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $48,051,000 after purchasing an additional 32,316 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $375,278.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,588 shares in the company, valued at $19,225,251.04. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five investment 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.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of META stock traded up $2.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $704.28. 12,743,944 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,336,421. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $686.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $638.34. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm 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%. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

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.