Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,125 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 657 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.1% of Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 154,285 shares of company stock valued at $105,518,153. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

META stock opened at $716.91 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $655.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $629.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.