West Coast Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,966 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 757 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.1% of West Coast Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. West Coast Financial LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $702.48.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%
META traded up $13.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $697.71. The company had a trading volume of 11,707,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,510,579. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $585.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $613.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.
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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Meta Platforms 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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