Harfst & Associates Inc. Sells 256 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Harfst & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the quarter. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $284,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock valued at $200,605,051. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $785.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $724.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $655.43. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. 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 7.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.41.

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.