Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Wellington Shields & Co. LLC

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,108 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,775 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 180.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 902 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Financial Insights Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $719,000. Dagco Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,788.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 52,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,865,000 after acquiring an additional 51,766 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,021 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,309,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.75, for a total transaction of $8,864,586.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 169,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,894,189. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 294,768 shares of company stock worth $146,314,257 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

META opened at $534.04 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $542.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $490.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $464.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 EPS 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 issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $545.00 price objective (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.