Weatherly Asset Management L. P. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,303 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 497 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Bank of Marin raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Marin now owns 1,611 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META opened at $701.41 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $683.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $637.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have issued reports on META. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $736.05.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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