Golden State Wealth Management LLC Acquires 156 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capitol Family Office Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $397,000. Patron Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 2,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 28,084 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,186,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $641,000. Finally, Monument Group Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $211,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.29.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,285 shares of company stock worth $105,518,153. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $716.91 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $655.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $629.14. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.