One Day In July LLC Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

One Day In July LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 54.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,481 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. One Day In July LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,855,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,460,014. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $674.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $634.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total transaction of $370,952.67. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,336 shares in the company, valued at $5,263,653.36. This trade represents a 6.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, June 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $729.38.

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.