SOL Capital Management CO Sells 255 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SOL Capital Management CO lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,363 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of SOL Capital Management CO’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $704.89, for a total transaction of $365,837.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,839,129.05. The trade was a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $733.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $638.51 and a 200 day moving average of $626.48. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during 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%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid 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 payout ratio is 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.