Northside Capital Management LLC Purchases 366,392 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northside Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 28,314.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,686 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 366,392 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 34.4% of Northside Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Northside Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $211,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ META traded down $3.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $684.62. 13,062,206 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,510,826. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $583.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $613.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,904,886. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.