Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 24 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,064 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 24 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.33.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of META stock traded up $10.61 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $487.40. 12,011,610 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,234,402. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $493.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $473.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the business’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 value of $535,549.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,130,103.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 311,518 shares of company stock worth $154,738,587. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.