Charles Schwab Trust Co Sells 558 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Charles Schwab Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 43.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 731 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 558 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $687.95 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $583.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $613.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.93, for a total transaction of $333,428.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,398,350.53. The trade was a 4.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,652 shares of company stock valued at $34,815,208. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

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.