Ballast Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ballast Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,939 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total transaction of $373,607.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,392,423. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,755,013.36. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $773.44 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $699.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $644.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $450.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 40.31%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $890.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $811.31.

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.