Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Beta Wealth Group Inc.

Beta Wealth Group Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 74.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 637 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,886 shares during the quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,162,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $7.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $769.30. The stock had a trading volume of 7,308,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,494,221. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $784.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $711.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $649.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 260,024 shares of company stock worth $188,466,159 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.