Whelan Financial Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whelan Financial grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,319 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.7% of Whelan Financial's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Whelan Financial's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors 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 first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Pivotal Research decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $729.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.57, for a total value of $374,494.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,559,597.99. This trade represents a 1.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total transaction of $370,952.67. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,336 shares in the company, valued at $5,263,653.36. This represents a 6.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock worth $105,466,325. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded down $9.73 on Friday, hitting $717.51. The company had a trading volume of 10,855,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,460,014. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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