Kercheville Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kercheville Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,667 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,336 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 4.2% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $695.77 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-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. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $612.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.89.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at $4,205,164.86. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,512 shares of company stock worth $73,590,232 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.00.

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.