Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 43.3%, owning 2,279 shares valued at approximately $1.31 million as of the latest reporting period.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares for over $12 million, while COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares, representing an 8.94% decrease in his ownership.
• Meta Platforms reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $7.14, exceeding estimates by $1.39, and the company declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend with a yield of 0.3%.

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 43.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,279 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $2.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $782.43. The stock had a trading volume of 6,732,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,334,524. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $795.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $720.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $653.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total value of $814,231.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total value of $398,090.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 292,211 shares of company stock worth $215,232,155 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.