MJP Associates Inc. ADV Has $3.43 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.6% of MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $729.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,263 shares of company stock valued at $104,638,750 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $720.92 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $677.20 and its 200-day moving average is $635.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.