Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Burkett Financial Services LLC

Burkett Financial Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 328 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $97,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 3,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,012,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $15,283,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $403,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $499.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $480.14 and a 200 day moving average of $444.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at $138,567,991.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at $138,567,991.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.00, for a total value of $248,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,049 shares in the company, valued at $4,587,843. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 391,071 shares of company stock worth $192,834,857 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.