Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Prairie Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $712.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $625.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $624.38. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $712.69.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,002 shares of company stock valued at $73,353,340. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.