Maridea Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Maridea Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 120.7% during the first quarter, owning 2,282 shares valued at approximately $1.315 million.
• Meta Platforms has recently received positive analyst upgrades, with target prices raised by major firms including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley, indicating a consensus target price of $820.32.
• The Chief Financial Officer and CEO of Meta both sold substantial amounts of stock recently, with total insider sales reaching approximately $105.7 million in the last three months.

Maridea Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 120.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,282 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have 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 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three 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 a consensus target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $750.01 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $450.80 and a 12-month high of $784.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $701.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $645.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms 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.

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