First City Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First City Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,443 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,727 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992 shares during the period. Greenline Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 182.0% in the 2nd quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 6,666 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,302 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 692.3% in the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 48,464 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,437,000 after purchasing an additional 42,347 shares in the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the second quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 5,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,655,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Circle Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 41.1% during the second quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,603 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,363,000 after purchasing an additional 4,254 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $564.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $507.58 and a 200-day moving average of $497.28. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $573.98.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 365,761 shares of company stock worth $190,846,038 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company 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.