WealthTrust Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WealthTrust Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,013 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 971 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of WealthTrust Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $129,666,000 after acquiring an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4%

META stock traded up $2.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $704.28. The company had a trading volume of 12,743,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,339,401. 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 $747.90. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $686.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $637.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $736.05.

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.