Prospect Hill Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prospect Hill Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 144.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,725 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.5% of Prospect Hill Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Prospect Hill Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.10, for a total transaction of $371,655.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,668,010.90. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the sale, the director owned 9,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,755,013.36. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on META. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $712.68. 8,253,539 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,556,341. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $450.80 and a one year high of $747.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $692.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $641.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.