Arlington Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 60.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,044 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,904,886. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $689.08. 6,637,760 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,711,318. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $583.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $613.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $702.48.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Profile
(
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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