IFC Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

IFC Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 513.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,882 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the period. IFC Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $828.00 price objective (up from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $736.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $3.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $697.45. The company had a trading volume of 4,836,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,328,973. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $683.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $637.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued 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 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.