Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Raised by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,338 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 5,154 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.0% of Procyon Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Procyon Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $32,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $15,406,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total transaction of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,272 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,384. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:META traded up $13.09 on Friday, hitting $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 quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $587.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $615.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

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.