Summit Global Investments Sells 6,547 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Summit Global Investments lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,547 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.0% of Summit Global Investments’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $645.05 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $610.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total transaction of $329,777.79. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,202,725.61. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,664 shares of company stock valued at $35,484,670. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.