Boltwood Capital Management Sells 50 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Boltwood Capital Management lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,186 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. Voyager Global Management LP increased its position in Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after acquiring an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ERn Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Pivotal Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $780.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.08.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $235,410.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,044,630. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 308,462 shares of company stock valued at $162,308,065 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $572.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $583.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $521.88 and a 200 day moving average of $501.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.