Slagle Financial LLC Sells 62 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Slagle Financial LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 562 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 62 shares during the period. Slagle Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st 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 last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Meta Platforms stock traded down $3.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $528.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,304,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $502.48 and its 200 day moving average is $490.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $276.03 and a 1-year high of $544.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.