Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 794.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,940 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 4,388 shares during the quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fjell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $15,406,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $702.48.
View Our Latest Stock Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $13.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $697.71. The stock had a trading volume of 11,707,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,531,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $587.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $615.18.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total value of $348,249.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,930,042. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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