Anfield Capital Management LLC Sells 599 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Anfield Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,508 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 599 shares during the quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $785.23 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $724.43 and its 200 day moving average is $655.57. The company has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total transaction of $814,231.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total value of $11,517,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,608,999. This represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.