Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 563 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 368,499 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $215,760,000 after acquiring an additional 73,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $600,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm'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 owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $704.28. The stock had a trading volume of 12,732,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,359,049. 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 twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $683.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $637.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target 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, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $736.05.

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.