Alesco Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alesco Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 404 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accuvest Global Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,829,000. Cresta Advisors Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. now owns 4,995 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,879,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. One Degree Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. One Degree Advisors Inc now owns 388 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Crane Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,475 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 289,356 shares of company stock worth $211,138,344. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $765.87 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $716.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $652.13. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

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.