Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC Acquires 2,083 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 19.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,779 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.2% of Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 124,223 shares of company stock valued at $83,526,550. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0%

META stock opened at $733.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $638.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $626.45. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $742.32. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush raised their target price 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. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 target price (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

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.

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