Park Edge Advisors LLC Buys 629 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Park Edge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,535 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.7% of Park Edge Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Park Edge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,135 shares of company stock valued at $34,481,779. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $666.85 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month 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 company has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $581.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $612.48.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 8.19%.

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.