Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Purchases 84,044 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1,622.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,224 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 84,044 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Aurora Private Wealth Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $51,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $7.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $733.63. 18,758,104 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,544,681. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $638.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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 cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on META shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

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.