Rice Partnership LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rice Partnership LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 589.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,796 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,084 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.4% of Rice Partnership LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 153,184 shares of company stock valued at $105,128,004. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.5%

META stock traded up $3.41 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $720.92. 8,907,708 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,437,837. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $674.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $634.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $729.38.

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.