Root Financial Partners LLC Acquires 654 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,891 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. 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’s 50 day moving average is $651.82 and its 200-day moving average is $628.50. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend 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 presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total transaction of $383,081.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,818,837.41. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 153,766 shares of company stock worth $105,135,650. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.29.

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.