Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by SMART Wealth LLC

SMART Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,703 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 858 shares during the quarter. SMART Wealth LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 368,499 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $215,760,000 after purchasing an additional 73,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $600,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction 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. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned 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 price target of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of META stock traded down $9.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $717.51. 10,847,750 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,488,679. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $672.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $633.41. 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 $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms 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.