Aspetuck Financial Management LLC Makes New $1.13 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aspetuck Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,126,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,416 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Security National Bank grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 943.4% in the 1st quarter. Security National Bank now owns 2,765 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Effects LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 12,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,003,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $907,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 70,706 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,752,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $733.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $638.51 and a 200 day moving average of $626.48. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. The trade was a 8.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following 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 trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.52.

Meta Platforms 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.