Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 18.5% in Q1, owning 13,201 shares worth about $7,609,000 after purchasing an additional 2,057 shares.
• Meta Platforms recently reported a quarterly EPS of $7.14, exceeding analysts' expectations and reflecting a 21.6% increase in revenue year-over-year to $47.52 billion.
• A number of institutional investors, including JCIC Asset Management Inc. and HSBC, have recently made significant investments or raised price targets for Meta, signaling strong market confidence in the company's prospects.

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,201 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 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 a total of 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $750.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $701.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $645.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $450.80 and a 12-month high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $820.32.

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.

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