Old Port Advisors Sells 394 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Old Port Advisors reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.6% during the first quarter, selling 394 shares and now holding a total of 2,722 shares valued at approximately $1.57 million.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Meta's stock, with several upgrades and downgrades, leading to an average target price of $752.33 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Meta recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $2.10, which yields about 0.29%.

Old Port Advisors decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,722 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Old Port Advisors' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $284,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $712.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $692.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $641.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440 in the last three months. Company 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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