Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Claris Advisors LLC MO

Claris Advisors LLC MO boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,280 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.5% of Claris Advisors LLC MO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Claris Advisors LLC MO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. TD Securities decreased their target price 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. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.88.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $610.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $621.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total transaction of $5,476,691.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,550,434.92. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 84,672 shares of company stock valued at $55,455,647. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.