Perpetual Ltd Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,017 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 708 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased 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 note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

META stock opened at $733.63 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $742.32. 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 company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $638.51 and a 200-day moving average of $626.45.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 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 $3,334,383.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 124,223 shares of company stock valued at $83,526,550 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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