Absher Wealth Management LLC Sells 26 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Absher Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,437 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Archer Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 8,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,164,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.3% in the second quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 8,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after buying an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 125.9% in the second quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,322 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.7% during the second quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,416 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,227,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Finally, Northstar Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.7% during the second quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $660.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $576.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares in the company, valued at $151,697,700.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $500.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $505.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $494.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.