Valmark Advisers Inc. Sells 612 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valmark Advisers Inc. cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,623 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 612 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at $3,507,676.90. The trade was a 8.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $7.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $733.63. The stock had a trading volume of 18,758,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,544,676. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $633.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $625.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

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.