Souders Financial Advisors Acquires 706 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Souders Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,470 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 706 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $4.18 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $716.86. 3,710,559 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,368,374. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $450.80 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $692.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $642.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,865 shares of company stock worth $105,467,671 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $752.33.

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.