Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC Sells 282 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,103 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 282 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Vantage Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $815,000 after buying an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 66.4% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rollins Financial increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $516.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $505.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $493.93. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.