Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Unison Asset Management LLC

Unison Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,147 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,704 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 10.5% of Unison Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Unison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” 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 given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $715.76.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 124,831 shares of company stock worth $83,868,872. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $726.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $633.87 and a 200-day moving average of $625.73. 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 fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.