Rossby Financial LCC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rossby Financial LCC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 82.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the quarter. Rossby Financial LCC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Suvretta Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 368,499 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $215,760,000 after purchasing an additional 73,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $3.34 on Friday, reaching $716.91. 8,601,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,544,817. The company's 50-day moving average price is $658.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $630.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. 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 market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

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 analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value 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 trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,285 shares of company stock valued at $105,518,153 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 target price (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wedbush upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.29.

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.