Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Has $7.11 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,327 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.8% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,677 shares of company stock valued at $105,221,340 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $808.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $716.91 on Monday. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $658.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $630.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.

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