Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Purchases 84,044 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1,622.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 89,224 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,044 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $51,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $733.63 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $638.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $626.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 124,831 shares of company stock worth $83,868,872 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.52.

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.