Defined Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 929 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $544,000.
Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $15,406,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 86,201 shares of company stock valued at $56,377,837 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $10.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $682.87. The stock had a trading volume of 9,259,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,501,070. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $600.62 and a 200-day moving average of $618.50.
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, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $704.26.
Read Our Latest Analysis on META
About Meta Platforms
(
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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