Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 1,375 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,582 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.0% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $714.80. 10,905,875 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,708,539. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $691.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $640.92. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm 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 business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.10, for a total value of $371,655.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,668,010.90. The trade was a 1.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,755,013.36. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.