Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Purchases 984 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,793 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.9% of Sonora Investment Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Paragon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.6% during the first quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 8,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,011,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 1,583 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC now owns 750 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.5% during the 1st quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC now owns 941 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 168.0% during the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 16,406 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $9,456,000 after buying an additional 10,285 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $8.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $694.14. The stock had a trading volume of 9,536,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,502,924. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The business's fifty day moving average is $593.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $617.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. This trade represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,104 shares of company stock worth $35,270,242 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $702.48.

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.