Balance Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 604 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $348,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 316.0% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 11,502 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,436,000 after buying an additional 8,737 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.6% during the first quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.0% during the first quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC now owns 2,760 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,591,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the first quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 2,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,330,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,118 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,866,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.52.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $7.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $733.63. 18,758,104 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,544,681. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $638.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $626.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at $3,507,676.90. The trade was a 8.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,862,237.92. This trade represents a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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