First Pacific Financial Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Pacific Financial trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 57.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 119 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $99,735,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total value of $9,796,340.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,862,237.92. This trade represents a 19.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This represents a 2.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $733.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $638.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $626.52.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.52.

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.