Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,498 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,773 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.1% of Motley Fool Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $55,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3%

META opened at $782.13 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $722.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $654.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $795.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total transaction of $398,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total transaction of $11,517,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $170,608,999. This trade represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms 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.

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