Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 7,551 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 82,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,551 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.4% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $47,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $694.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $597.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $617.62. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 85,682 shares of company stock worth $56,014,018. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.