WESPAC Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 52.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 941 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,040 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the first quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,861 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Country Club Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the first quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 8,181 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,718,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.6% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 24,387 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,053 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,099,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 190.2% during the first quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,566 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,090,000 after buying an additional 22,279 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $828.00 price target (up previously from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $1.80 on Thursday, reaching $701.11. 7,915,056 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,675,123. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $681.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $636.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total value of $370,947.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,632.50. This represents a 7.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 152,780 shares of company stock worth $105,009,697. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.