Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Forsta AP Fonden

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 2.7%, selling 15,800 shares and leaving it with 574,500 shares, valued at approximately $331 million.
• Recent analyst reports have generally been optimistic, with multiple firms raising their target prices for Meta Platforms, with an average target now at $822.41.
• Meta Platforms reported strong quarterly earnings, beating estimates with $7.14 EPS and revenue of $47.52 billion, an increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 574,500 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 15,800 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.5% of Forsta AP Fonden's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $331,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,243 shares of company stock valued at $200,605,051 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $4.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $786.31. 8,081,036 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,297,497. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $722.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $654.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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.