Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 9.5%, holding 205,992 shares worth approximately $118.7 million after selling 21,686 shares in the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts are generally bullish on Meta, with several firms recently raising their price targets, with Wedbush increasing it from $680 to $750, and UBS raising it to $812.
• Meta Platforms announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equating to an annualized total of $2.10 and indicating a dividend yield of 0.30%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 205,992 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 21,686 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $118,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $815.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded down $23.43 on Friday, hitting $750.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $699.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $644.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $450.80 and a 1 year high of $784.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.