Legacy Trust Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Legacy Trust lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,187 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.1% of Legacy Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Legacy Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Roth Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $704.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $682.87 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $604.07 and a 200-day moving average of $619.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total transaction of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,453,384. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 86,201 shares of company stock worth $56,377,837. 13.61% of the stock is currently 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.