Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.1% of Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 368,499 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $215,760,000 after buying an additional 73,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $600,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $808.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of META stock opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $662.26 and a 200 day moving average of $631.21. 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 P/E ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio 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.