Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by VCI Wealth Management LLC

VCI Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of VCI Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,162,918,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $828.00 price objective (up previously from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $712.68 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $692.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $641.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.