Kercheville Advisors LLC Sells 1,336 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kercheville Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,667 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,336 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.2% of Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,205,164.86. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,512 shares of company stock valued at $73,590,232. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $695.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,635,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,501,973. 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 $612.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $621.89. 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 $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a PEG ratio of 1.72 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

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.