Hardy Reed LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 69.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,167 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ META traded up $4.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $717.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,940,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,476,063. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $689.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $640.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,954 shares of company stock valued at $105,433,784 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $828.00 price target (up from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $752.33.

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.