Outfitter Financial LLC Sells 521 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Outfitter Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,562 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 521 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.4% of Outfitter Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Outfitter Financial LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $712.68. 8,253,539 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,556,341. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $692.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $641.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side 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 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 was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.41, for a total transaction of $365,213.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,302 shares in the company, valued at $4,451,795.82. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Pivotal Research dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $752.33.

About Meta Platforms

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.