Emerald Advisers LLC Has $2.76 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Emerald Advisers LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,781 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 662 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 target price (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $732.67.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 152,780 shares of company stock worth $105,009,697. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $702.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.28. The company's 50 day moving average is $681.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $636.39.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.