Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 983 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,365 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.6% of Ritholtz Wealth Management's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 85,593 shares of company stock valued at $56,008,477. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:META opened at $682.87 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $604.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $619.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors 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 yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $704.26.

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.

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