Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.4% in the first quarter, making it the 2nd largest position in their portfolio with a valuation of $74 million.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their price targets for Meta Platforms, raising it to as high as $900, with a majority rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy."
• Meta reported strong earnings with $7.14 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and showed a 21.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 128,478 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 18,119 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.4% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $74,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 85,862 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $49,487,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Cove Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,210 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,426,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. SouthState Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 17,682 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,191,000 after buying an additional 2,128 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 43,280 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,945,000 after buying an additional 11,010 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of META opened at $782.13 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $795.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $722.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $654.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total transaction of $398,090.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,658,270. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total value of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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