Bluesphere Advisors LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bluesphere Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAFree Report) by 13.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $715.76.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $726.09 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $633.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $625.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 124,831 shares of company stock worth $83,868,872 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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