Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Acquires 845 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 43.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,809 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fjell Capital LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th 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. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $112,406,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total transaction of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 86,201 shares of company stock worth $56,377,837 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $704.26.

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.