Cullen Investment Group LTD. Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,153 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,406,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned 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 $701.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,628 shares of company stock worth $34,826,386 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2%

META stock opened at $643.58 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $577.74 and its 200 day moving average is $610.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.