Leo Wealth LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Leo Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 32.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,925 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,356 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Benchmark lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $2.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $704.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,743,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,336,421. The firm has a market cap 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 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 50-day moving average of $686.09 and a 200-day moving average of $637.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.