Echo Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Echo Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 849 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Echo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.00.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,423 shares of company stock valued at $73,580,663 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $682.35 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $618.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $623.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.