Seizert Capital Partners LLC Has $13.31 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Seizert Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 72.5%, selling 60,897 shares, resulting in ownership of 23,101 shares valued at approximately $13.31 million.
• A recent disclosure revealed that Meta Platforms' quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $7.14 EPS against a consensus estimate of $5.75, with revenue increasing by 21.6% year-over-year.
• Several analysts have significantly raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with estimates now ranging from $825.00 to $905.00, reflecting strong confidence in the company's growth potential.

Seizert Capital Partners LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 72.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,101 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 60,897 shares during the quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st 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.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's 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 approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,298 shares of company stock worth $116,742,790. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $768.07. The company had a trading volume of 3,441,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,569,142. The firm has a market capitalization 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm's fifty day moving average is $704.66 and its 200-day moving average is $647.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $478.65 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.