Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Boosted by Affinity Investment Advisors LLC

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.4% of Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total transaction of $814,231.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total value of $399,835.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at $19,436,673.30. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 267,732 shares of company stock worth $199,652,003 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $767.37 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $725.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $655.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

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.