Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.03 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,021 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,633 shares during the period. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of META traded up $8.14 on Friday, hitting $517.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,696,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,487,600. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $496.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $483.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares in the company, valued at $58,639,184.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,130,103.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares in the company, valued at $58,639,184.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 319,158 shares of company stock valued at $158,629,849 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $572.51.

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.