Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC Takes $202,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 367 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $807.00 to $828.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Roth Capital boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $732.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 152,780 shares of company stock valued at $105,009,697. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $7.48 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $702.91. The company had a trading volume of 13,045,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,428,982. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.41, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The business's 50-day moving average is $679.66 and its 200 day moving average is $635.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

About Meta Platforms

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.