Financial Partners Group Inc Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Financial Partners Group Inc raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 35.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,395 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the period. Financial Partners Group Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock valued at $105,805,440 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $712.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $692.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $641.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $450.80 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Company 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.