Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 705 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew 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 last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management lifted 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Meta Platforms stock traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $528.00. The stock had a trading volume of 11,304,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $490.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $276.03 and a one year high of $544.23. The stock has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s 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 $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

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.