Griffin Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,890 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 49.3% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Virginia VA acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $242,000. First Dallas Securities Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the first quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 8,286 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,024,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,981 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,876,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 25,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of META opened at $504.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $480.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.49, for a total value of $15,464,732.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total transaction of $238,507.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,166,093.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.49, for a total transaction of $15,464,732.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 233,512 shares of company stock worth $113,597,536 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.