Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. Sells 265 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,248 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 265 shares during the period. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 18.8% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 13,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares during the period. KADENSA CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $9,548,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 88.4% during the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,084,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $325,717,000 after acquiring an additional 509,000 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, JT Stratford LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.0% in the third quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 12,876 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,318 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a 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 research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of META opened at $509.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.05.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total transaction of $253,089.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,167,719.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.