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

Rossby Financial LCC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 82.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the period. 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 and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price target (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.29.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 153,677 shares of company stock worth $105,221,340. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $6.08 on Monday, hitting $725.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,495,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,498,155. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $658.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $630.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.