Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Acquires 93 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,773 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.2%

META stock opened at $687.95 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $583.27 and its 200 day moving average is $613.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 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 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total transaction of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,453,384. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,652 shares of company stock valued at $34,815,208. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.