Spirit of America Management Corp NY Acquires 650 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 65.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,650 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of META stock traded down $13.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $682.35. The company had a trading volume of 22,498,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,512,174. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $623.24. The company has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,838 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total value of $1,928,283.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,619 shares in the company, valued at $59,970,116.17. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,031 shares of company stock valued at $73,954,565 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.