Curran Financial Partners LLC Buys 103 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Curran Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Curran Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of META stock opened at $682.35 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $623.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given 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 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,031 shares of company stock worth $73,954,565 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Benchmark lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.00.

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.