Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $13.02 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,582 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.0% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $704.81. The company had a trading volume of 8,873,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,295,060. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $686.09 and a 200 day moving average of $638.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total transaction of $370,947.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,632.50. The trade was a 7.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $375,278.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,225,251.04. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,437 shares of company stock worth $105,068,570. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $845.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Roth Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $748.60.

About Meta Platforms

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.