LS Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 58.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,371 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,137 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.7% of LS Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Grassi Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the first quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 1,590 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,537 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,344,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 6,275 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,616,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the first quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,731,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.4% during the first quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 359 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total transaction of $348,249.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,930,042. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of META stock traded up $13.09 on Friday, reaching $697.71. 11,707,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,495,197. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $585.44 and a 200-day moving average of $613.90. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued 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 is currently 8.19%.

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.