KDK Private Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• KDK Private Wealth Management LLC has reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 50% in the first quarter, now holding 1,000 shares valued at approximately $576,000.
• Analysts are optimistic about Meta, with most ratings being a "buy" and the consensus price target set at $752.33.
• Meta reported a Q1 EPS of $6.43, exceeding analysts' expectations of $5.33, and had a year-over-year revenue increase of 16.1%.

KDK Private Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 50.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of KDK Private Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. KDK Private Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $754.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,461 shares of company stock worth $105,335,225 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $4.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $695.21. 26,166,475 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,688,610. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $696.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $643.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $450.80 and a 12-month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.