Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,321 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,970 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.3% of Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total transaction of $12,181,113.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total transaction of $11,517,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 222,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,608,999. The trade was a 6.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 275,024 shares of company stock valued at $199,983,159. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $769.30 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $651.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

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.