Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 1,054 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,951 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 76.4% during the first quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 5,805 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514 shares during the period. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 9.4% during the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 16,321 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,407,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.4% during the first quarter. Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Souders Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the first quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 8,470 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,882,000 after buying an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of META stock traded up $4.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $716.86. 3,710,559 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,368,374. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $692.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $642.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year high of $747.90. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the 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 is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,755,013.36. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 152,865 shares of company stock worth $105,467,671. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.