Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Lowered by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. holds a $110.12 billion position in Meta Platforms, making it the company's 5th largest holding, despite a 0.1% reduction in shares during the first quarter.
• A number of analysts have increased their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Bank of America and Citizens Jmp setting targets of $900.00, signaling strong investor confidence.
• Meta Platforms recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, demonstrating a consistent return to shareholders amidst a robust earnings report indicating a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,058,533 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 139,472 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.0% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 7.54% of Meta Platforms worth $110,118,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $3.43 on Monday, reaching $765.87. 7,597,659 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,441,953. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The company's 50 day moving average is $714.53 and its 200-day moving average is $651.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Roth Capital increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 290,263 shares of company stock valued at $211,724,057 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.