Advisor Resource Council Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisor Resource Council reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 85.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 14,175 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.8% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 13,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,157,000 after acquiring an additional 2,189 shares during the last quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,110,000. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 95,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the third quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 4,892 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.2% in the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $509.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $482.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 251,905 shares of company stock worth $123,528,726. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.