LRI Investments LLC Has $19.50 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,829 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 351 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of LRI Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the sale, the director owned 9,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,755,013.36. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $701.41 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $747.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $683.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $637.15. 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 company has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

About Meta Platforms

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.