Gill Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gill Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,027 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $11,285,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $498.87 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $542.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $492.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $466.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,853,183.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’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 transaction, 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 three months, insiders sold 294,278 shares of company stock worth $146,060,559. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.