Park Edge Advisors LLC Buys 629 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Park Edge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,535 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.7% of Park Edge Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Park Edge Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. GenWealth Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. GenWealth Group Inc. now owns 1,570 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $905,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,449 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,633,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,036 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,903,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 24,801 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $14,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 31.9% during the 1st quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $13.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $697.71. 11,707,462 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,531,332. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $587.67 and a 200-day moving average of $614.84. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on META. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted 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. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.