Stonegate Investment Group LLC Acquires 57,118 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 125.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 102,636 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,118 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.6% of Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $59,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,406,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $682.35 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $618.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $623.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,453,384. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold 110,423 shares of company stock worth $73,580,663 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.