Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Lakeshore Capital Group Inc.

Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.5% of Lakeshore Capital Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $666.85 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $581.05 and a 200-day moving average of $612.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02% 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 the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total value of $329,777.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,221 shares in the company, valued at $19,202,725.61. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,135 shares of company stock valued at $34,481,779. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.