Northstar Advisory Group LLC Acquires 600 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,125 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 3.1% of Northstar Advisory Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Northstar Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $702.48.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,104 shares of company stock worth $35,270,242 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ META traded up $8.34 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $702.40. 10,818,910 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,509,547. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $589.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $616.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.