Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Buys 490 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 4.8%, owning a total of 10,804 shares worth approximately $6.23 million after acquiring 490 additional shares in the first quarter.
• Insider selling activity includes CTO Andrew Bosworth selling 22,449 shares for over $14 million and CEO Mark Zuckerberg selling 15,847 shares valued at nearly $12 million, with total insider sales in three months exceeding $116 million.
• The company's most recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $7.14, outperforming analysts’ expectations, with revenue rising 21.6% year-over-year.

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,804 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position 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 worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,030,399,000 after buying an additional 280,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 167,298 shares of company stock valued at $116,742,790. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $12.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $763.46. 11,612,061 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,355,778. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $478.65 and a twelve month high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $704.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $647.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

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.