Boston Family Office LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Boston Family Office LLC significantly increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 91.1% in the first quarter, now owning 3,928 shares valued at approximately $2.26 million.
• Insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of Meta's stock for over $11.5 million, representing a 6.32% decrease in his ownership.
• Meta reported impressive earnings, with an earnings per share (EPS) of $7.14, surpassing forecasts and reflecting a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

Boston Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 91.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,928 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the quarter. Boston Family Office LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total value of $11,517,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,608,999. The trade was a 6.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total transaction of $398,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 268,251 shares of company stock valued at $199,981,827. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ META traded down $17.86 on Monday, hitting $767.37. 16,482,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,961,045. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $725.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $655.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

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.