Paragon Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Paragon Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 50.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,171 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.9% of Paragon Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Paragon Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Securities lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $18.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $719.22. 13,399,510 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,538,360. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $643.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $627.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $730.47, for a total transaction of $10,075,372.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 29,947 shares in the company, valued at $21,875,385.09. This trade represents a 31.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.47, for a total transaction of $353,353.99. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $5,720,643.90. This represents a 5.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,095 shares of company stock valued at $93,076,345 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.