Sapient Capital LLC Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 155,065 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.8% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $89,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $704.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 86,201 shares of company stock worth $56,377,837. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $693.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $600.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $618.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. 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.