First Heartland Consultants Inc. Has $2.52 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• First Heartland Consultants Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.4%, owning 4,367 shares valued at approximately $2.52 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with estimates now reaching as high as $918, indicating strong short-term performance potential.
• Meta Platforms recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525, representing an annualized yield of 0.30% and a dividend payout ratio of 8.19%.

First Heartland Consultants Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,367 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. First Heartland Consultants Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Benchmark upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $23.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $450.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $699.22 and a 200-day moving average of $644.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's 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.