Paragon Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Paragon Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,636 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $598.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total value of $4,615,448.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 178,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,191,218.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total transaction of $4,615,448.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 178,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,191,218.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 308,462 shares of company stock valued at $162,308,065 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $572.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap 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 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $583.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $521.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $501.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.