Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,821 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,821 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Core Alternative Capital increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 81.6% during the first quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 3,757 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares during the period. Whelan Financial increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.2% during the first quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 3,319 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Novare Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the first quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC now owns 19,486 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $11,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the first quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 3,802 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 180,830 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $104,223,000 after purchasing an additional 6,174 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of META stock traded down $9.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $717.51. 10,855,962 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,460,014. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $674.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $634.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.