White Pine Investment CO Has $9.06 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

White Pine Investment CO lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,959 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,304 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.7% of White Pine Investment CO’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Blodgett Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $434,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 11,073 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. Eos Management L.P. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 301.8% during the fourth quarter. Eos Management L.P. now owns 16,222 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,742,000 after buying an additional 12,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 264,681 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $93,686,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $528.00. The stock had a trading volume of 11,304,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $276.03 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $502.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $490.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.67, for a total transaction of $194,328.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,058,069.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 418,680 shares of company stock valued at $211,992,147 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.