Rice Partnership LLC Buys 10,084 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rice Partnership LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 589.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,796 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 10,084 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.4% of Rice Partnership LLC's holdings, 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.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. 10,855,962 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,898,584. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $672.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $633.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial raised 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. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $729.38.

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.