Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 426,021 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 719 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.8% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $245,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $587.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $614.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month 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.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total transaction of $348,249.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,702 shares in the company, valued at $19,930,042. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.