Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Covestor Ltd's 8th Largest Position

Covestor Ltd cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,945 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 441 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.7% of Covestor Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Covestor Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in 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 valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 target price (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 289,356 shares of company stock worth $211,138,344 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of META opened at $790.00 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $793.67. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $718.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $653.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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.

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