Ibex Wealth Advisors Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ibex Wealth Advisors decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,784 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,871 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.3% of Ibex Wealth Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $702.40 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $593.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $617.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $702.48.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,104 shares of company stock valued at $35,270,242. Company 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.