Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC sold 476 shares of Meta Platforms, reducing its holdings by 2.7% and leaving them with 17,295 shares, valued at approximately $9.97 million.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares, a 10.44% decrease in his position, while CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares, resulting in a 94.99% drop in his ownership.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $754.07.

Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,295 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 476 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 3.9% of Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

META stock traded down $23.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year high of $784.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $699.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $644.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $815.09.

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.