Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 470,288 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 58,000 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.0% of M&T Bank Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $271,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $717.51 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $674.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $634.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 target price (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $729.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock worth $105,466,325 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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