Motiv8 Investments LLC Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Motiv8 Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,453 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 158 shares during the quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $504.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $505.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $494.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $660.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 373,783 shares of company stock valued at $193,743,522. 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.