Country Club Bank Sells 181 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Country Club Bank decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,264 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the quarter. Country Club Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after buying an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 target price on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $572.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total value of $483,224.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 349,174 shares of company stock valued at $175,146,777 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $10.57 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $537.33. 13,439,826 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,356,326. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $498.92 and its 200-day moving average is $485.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $542.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.