J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Purchases 42 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IMA Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,699 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,319,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 1,985 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.0% during the first quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 3,913 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 23.8% during the first quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roundview Capital LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 32,110 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,507,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 directly owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 152,865 shares of company stock worth $105,467,671. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ META opened at $712.68 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $692.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $642.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $450.80 and a one year high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Research analysts expect 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 was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson dropped their target price 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. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.