Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,053 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 608 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.2% of Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Five 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.57, for a total value of $374,494.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,107 shares in the company, valued at $19,559,597.99. The trade was a 1.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total value of $370,947.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,892,632.50. This trade represents a 7.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 152,780 shares of company stock valued at $105,009,697. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $1.80 during trading on Thursday, reaching $701.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,915,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,675,123. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $681.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

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.