Ibex Wealth Advisors Sells 4,871 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ibex Wealth Advisors reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,784 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,871 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Ibex Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $702.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $593.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $617.09. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,104 shares of company stock worth $35,270,242. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.