Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 189,614 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 15,982 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $109,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 124,831 shares of company stock worth $83,868,872. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $733.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $638.51 and a 200 day moving average of $626.48. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.