Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,331 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,454 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $68,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,509 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,515,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 201,924 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $116,381,000 after buying an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,937 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,269,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,641,000. Finally, DDD Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the first quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 3,637 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,096,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,437 shares of company stock worth $105,068,570 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 target price (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $748.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $704.81. 8,873,115 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,295,060. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $686.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $638.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. 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.