Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,776 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 38 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,321 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,098,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 80.6% in the first quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.1% in the first quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,125 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,974,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Capital Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 1,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Barclays cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.22 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $480.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.62.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $485.00, for a total transaction of $283,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,906,755. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $485.00, for a total value of $283,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,906,755. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,557 shares of company stock valued at $97,894,296 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.