Greystone Financial Group LLC Buys 564 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,961 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,453,384. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This trade represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,104 shares of company stock valued at $35,270,242. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $694.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $589.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $616.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.