Janney Capital Management LLC Sells 36 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Janney Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 535 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $682.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $618.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $623.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim boosted their target price 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. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,205,164.86. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total transaction of $1,928,283.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,970,116.17. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,031 shares of company stock worth $73,954,565 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.