Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Takes $2.90 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Koss Olinger Consulting LLC has made a new investment of approximately $2.90 million in Meta Platforms, acquiring 5,022 shares during the first quarter.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Cantor Fitzgerald and Wedbush raising theirs to $920.00, while maintaining "overweight" and "outperform" ratings.
• Insider Christopher K. Cox recently sold 60,000 shares of Meta at an average price of $775.95, resulting in a significant 20.19% decrease in his holdings.

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,022 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $2,895,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $4.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $786.35. The company had a trading volume of 8,081,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,297,497. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The business's 50-day moving average is $722.68 and its 200 day moving average is $654.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 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 Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total transaction of $11,517,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $170,608,999. The trade was a 6.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total transaction of $398,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock valued at $200,605,051 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

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.