Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,528 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $13.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $697.71. 11,707,462 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,495,226. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $585.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $613.90. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $702.48.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on META
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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