Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 4,366 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 97,269 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 4,366 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.9% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $56,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.57, for a total value of $374,494.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,559,597.99. The trade was a 1.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,263 shares of company stock valued at $104,638,750. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $7.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $702.91. 13,045,170 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,735,423. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $679.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $635.93. 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 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $732.67.

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.