Griffith & Werner Inc. Acquires 416 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Griffith & Werner Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,867 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.5% of Griffith & Werner Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Griffith & Werner Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,563 shares of company stock valued at $34,793,185 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $697.71 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50-day moving average is $587.67 and its 200-day moving average is $615.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.