Portside Wealth Group LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,715 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,832 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.8% of Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,406,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,135 shares of company stock valued at $34,481,779 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:META opened at $666.85 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $581.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $612.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $701.05.

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.