Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC Decreases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,405 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $708.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $629.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $624.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.75 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 124,312 shares of company stock worth $83,503,034. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Loop Capital raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $712.69.

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.