Retireful LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Retireful LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,440 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total transaction of $329,777.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,202,725.61. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of META stock opened at $687.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $583.27 and a 200 day moving average of $613.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms 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.