Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Sells 42 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,243 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,775 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,334,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 180.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 902 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Financial Insights Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $719,000. Dagco Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4,788.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 52,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,865,000 after buying an additional 51,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,021 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 294,768 shares of company stock worth $146,314,257. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $593.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed 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, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $534.04 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $464.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.