Berry Wealth Group LP Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Berry Wealth Group LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,857 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Berry Wealth Group LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. One equities research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0%

Meta Platforms stock traded up $7.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $733.63. 18,758,104 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,525,798. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.26. The business's 50-day moving average price is $633.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $625.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,862,237.92. The trade was a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 124,831 shares of company stock worth $83,868,872 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.