Goldstone Financial Group LLC Purchases 163 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,208 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 163 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:META opened at $682.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $604.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $619.60.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,523,445. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 86,201 shares of company stock valued at $56,377,837 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Raymond James dropped 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. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $704.26.

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.