MBA Advisors LLC Purchases 74 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MBA Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the quarter. MBA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $662.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $631.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.