Annex Advisory Services LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 117,040 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 33,445 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.9% of Annex Advisory Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $15,406,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on META shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $13.09 on Friday, reaching $697.71. 11,707,462 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,510,579. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $585.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $613.90. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.