Griffin Asset Management Inc. Sells 181 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,890 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the first quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $480.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.77.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total value of $238,507.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,166,093.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total value of $238,507.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,166,093.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 233,512 shares of company stock worth $113,597,536. 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.