RD Finance Ltd Acquires New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

RD Finance Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,540 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $3,769,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.0% of RD Finance Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. FSA Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 93.5% in the 1st quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 58.1% during the first quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 31,815 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,351,000 after purchasing an additional 11,695 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.2% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 566,601 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $326,566,000 after purchasing an additional 74,816 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 51.5% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 25,716 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $14,822,000 after buying an additional 8,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekside Partners raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Creekside Partners now owns 672 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total value of $373,607.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,392,423. This trade represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total transaction of $369,655.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,136,275. The trade was a 8.20% 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 ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of META stock opened at $750.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $701.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $645.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS 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 business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.

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