Firestone Capital Management Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Firestone Capital Management decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,299 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.1% of Firestone Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Firestone Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Voyager Global Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $577.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total transaction of $4,908,011.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 247,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $124,669,016.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total value of $4,908,011.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 247,915 shares in the company, valued at $124,669,016.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 356,426 shares of company stock valued at $185,053,425 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $559.10 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $505.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $496.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $562.07. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

About Meta Platforms

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.