Ellenbecker Investment Group Purchases 47 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,198 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ META opened at $694.14 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $597.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $617.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,550,434.92. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,682 shares of company stock worth $56,014,018 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

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.