Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Lifted by Castle Wealth Management LLC

Castle Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,524 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $1,398,000. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1,973.1% during the 1st quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 27,033 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $14,795,000 after purchasing an additional 25,729 shares in the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 79,651 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,908,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 4,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,603,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:META opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $662.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $631.21.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total value of $382,503.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,626 shares in the company, valued at $20,360,362. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.