HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0%, now owning 53,399 shares valued at approximately $29.6 million, making Meta 1.7% of their investment portfolio.
• Meta reported Q1 earnings of $6.43 per share, exceeding analyst expectations and achieving a 16.1% year-over-year revenue growth to $42.31 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equating to a 0.29% yield, with a dividend payout ratio of 8.19%.

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,399 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,554 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Csenge Advisory Group grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $807.00 to $828.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Five 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 company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $754.07.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $6.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $711.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,558,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,318,961. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $450.80 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The business's fifty day moving average is $694.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $642.71.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,755,013.36. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 151,944 shares of company stock worth $104,965,570 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by 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.