Channel Wealth LLC Sells 379 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Channel Wealth LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,753 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. Channel Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $687.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $583.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $613.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at $19,269,825.75. This trade represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.93, for a total transaction of $333,428.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,398,350.53. This represents a 4.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.