Texas Yale Capital Corp. Buys 473 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 81.7% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 473 shares, bringing their total ownership to 1,052 shares valued at approximately $606,000.
• Analysts have given Meta Platforms an average rating of "Moderate Buy", with price targets ranging from $610 to $850, influenced by several upgrades recently issued by major equity research firms.
• Meta reported $7.14 earnings per share for the latest quarter, significantly surpassing analysts' estimates of $5.75 and marking a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.6%.

Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 81.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,052 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $23.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50 day moving average is $701.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $645.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $450.80 and a one year high of $784.75.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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%.

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.