Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Purchases 58 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $682.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $623.14. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,205,164.86. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,031 shares of company stock worth $73,954,565 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.