Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,456,264 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 92,465 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.6% of KBC Group NV's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. KBC Group NV owned 0.06% of Meta Platforms worth $839,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $3.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $716.91. The company had a trading volume of 8,601,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,572,054. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $658.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $629.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,285 shares of company stock worth $105,518,153 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.