Valmark Advisers Inc. Sells 612 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valmark Advisers Inc. decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,623 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 612 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

Meta Platforms stock 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $629.38 and its 200 day moving average is $624.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total value of $348,249.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,930,042. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total value of $9,796,340.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,533 shares in the company, valued at $40,862,237.92. This trade represents a 19.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 124,312 shares of company stock valued at $83,503,034. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $712.69.

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.