Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,152 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.0% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total transaction of $348,249.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,930,042. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of META stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $614.84.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $702.48.

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.