Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after buying an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after purchasing an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 230,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,737,915.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,737,915.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total transaction of $238,507.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,166,093.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 233,512 shares of company stock valued at $113,597,536 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $519.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $479.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $452.69. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.