NCP Inc. Sells 122,730 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

NCP Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 95.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,591 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 122,730 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.3% of NCP Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. NCP Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the first quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 4,836 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,787,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. American Financial & Tax Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $248,000. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the first quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,093 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,581,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.1% during the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,539,292 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $887,186,000 after acquiring an additional 289,208 shares during the period. Finally, DeDora Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 5,831 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,361,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $712.68 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $450.80 and a one year high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $692.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $641.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.