Sara Bay Financial Has $17.06 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sara Bay Financial raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 7.5% of Sara Bay Financial’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $697.71 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $587.67 and a 200 day moving average of $614.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.