HM Payson & Co. Purchases 6,174 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 180,830 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,174 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.8% of HM Payson & Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. HM Payson & Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $104,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. 10,855,962 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,460,014. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $674.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $634.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 153,792 shares of company stock worth $105,466,325 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently 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.