Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Has $7.35 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,446 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $26,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $566.98 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $621.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $636.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $526,715.73. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,171,959.94. This trade represents a 6.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,170 shares of company stock valued at $24,218,565. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.