Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,456,264 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 92,465 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.6% of KBC Group NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $839,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $325,000. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wedbush raised 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $808.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $651.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,766 shares of company stock valued at $105,135,650 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.