Praxis Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Praxis Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,820 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,530 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $112,406,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.99, for a total transaction of $364,332.81. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,121,841.36. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,423 shares of company stock valued at $73,580,663. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $682.35 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $618.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $623.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.