Wealthspire Advisors LLC Sells 695 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Wealthspire Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 2.8%, now holding 24,214 shares valued at approximately $13.96 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Revolve Wealth Partners LLC, have increased their holdings in Meta, which now has 79.91% of its stock owned by institutional investors.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 per share, exceeding expectations, and had revenues of $47.52 billion for the quarter, indicating a year-over-year revenue growth of 21.6%.

Wealthspire Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,214 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 695 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,030,399,000 after purchasing an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $3.43 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $765.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,597,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,441,953. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $784.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $714.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $651.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 290,263 shares of company stock valued at $211,724,057 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.