Putney Financial Group LLC Sells 253 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Putney Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 68.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 116 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 253 shares during the quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockline Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.9% in the first quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,498 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,001,000 after buying an additional 7,299 shares in the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the first quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 23,588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,595,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.1% during the first quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,677 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,223,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the first quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 3,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.00.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total transaction of $1,928,283.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,970,116.17. The trade was a 3.12% 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 company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of META stock opened at $682.35 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $618.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $623.24. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 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.