745 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Bought by Delap Wealth Advisory LLC

Delap Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 745 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group raised its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $750.01 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $701.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $646.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $369,655.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,136,275. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,755,013.36. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,372 shares of company stock valued at $105,348,896. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $820.32.

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.