Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 35.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 8,134 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,406,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value 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 trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,104 shares of company stock worth $35,270,242. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

META opened at $694.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $589.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $616.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend 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.