Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Sells 490 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,091 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 490 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $524.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $505.13 and its 200 day moving average is $495.37.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares in the company, valued at $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773 in the last ninety days. 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.