Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases 6,809 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,228 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,809 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.6% of Park Avenue Securities LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $49,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,466 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.25, for a total value of $5,235,532.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 132,072 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $92,615,490. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,682 shares of company stock worth $56,014,018 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on META. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $676.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $704.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $693.36. 7,303,916 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,493,692. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $597.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $617.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.