Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd Sells 7,000 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 63.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 14.9% of Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $712.69.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,862,237.92. This represents a 19.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 124,312 shares of company stock valued at $83,503,034. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $708.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $629.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $624.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

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.