Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY Sells 8,437 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 22.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,531 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 8,437 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fjell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $112,406,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $3.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $708.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,285,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,488,533. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $629.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $624.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue 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 Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,862,237.92. This trade represents a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,312 shares of company stock worth $83,503,034 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $712.69.

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.