Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Has $1.41 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,439 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 553 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock worth $105,466,325. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Benchmark dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. The stock had a trading volume of 10,855,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,480,953. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $674.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $634.17. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 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 company earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend 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.