Patton Fund Management Inc. Sells 1,790 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Patton Fund Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,790 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7%

META stock opened at $697.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $610.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $621.38. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total transaction of $5,476,691.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,550,434.92. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.