Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,224 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $752.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2%

META stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $714.80. 10,905,875 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,708,539. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $691.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $640.92. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. 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 $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.