ANB Bank Sells 384 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• ANB Bank reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 10.8%, selling 384 shares and owning a total of 3,187 shares valued at approximately $1.84 million.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $6.43 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and had a revenue of $42.31 billion, which was an increase of 16.1% year-over-year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, amounting to an annual yield of 0.30% with a payout ratio of 8.19%.

ANB Bank lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,187 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 384 shares during the period. ANB Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 509,947 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $293,914,000 after buying an additional 39,012 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 120,899 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,681,000 after buying an additional 5,639 shares in the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the first quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,845,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Tufton Capital Management raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the first quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 2,474 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 197.5% during the first quarter. Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $21,799,000 after buying an additional 25,106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% 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, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of META stock traded down $23.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $750.01. The company had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year high of $784.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $699.22 and a 200 day moving average of $644.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

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.