Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $18.74 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,520 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st 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 during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $782.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $795.46. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $722.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $654.81.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm 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 firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total value of $398,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,658,270. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total transaction of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock valued at $200,605,051. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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