Sawyer & Company Inc Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sawyer & Company Inc reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,794 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.7% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the first quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $504.22 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $480.00 and a 200-day moving average of $453.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $485.00, for a total value of $283,725.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,906,755. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 233,512 shares of company stock worth $113,597,536 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.