Fulcrum Equity Management Buys 45 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fulcrum Equity Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 711 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 152,263 shares of company stock worth $104,638,750 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $710.39 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $679.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $635.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share 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 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Company 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.