Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $1.74 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,011 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

META opened at $697.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $587.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $614.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms 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.