Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Chicago Capital LLC

Chicago Capital LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 292,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 17,273 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 4.8% of Chicago Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $168,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 110,512 shares of company stock valued at $73,590,232. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $695.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $612.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.89. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 8.19%.

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.