Strid Group LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Strid Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Strid Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on META shares. TD Securities decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $651.82 and a 200 day moving average of $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,818,837.41. The trade was a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 ninety days, insiders sold 153,766 shares of company stock valued at $105,135,650. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.