Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Acquires 2,226 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,689 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,226 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA's holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $127,773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $18.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $719.22. 13,399,510 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,194,219. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $643.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $627.27.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors 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 was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.27, for a total transaction of $325,160.55. Following the sale, the director owned 9,807 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,740.89. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.47, for a total value of $353,353.99. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 8,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,720,643.90. This trade represents a 5.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 137,095 shares of company stock valued at $93,076,345. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.