Values Added Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Values Added Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,172 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Values Added Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 152,756 shares of company stock worth $104,720,878 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. 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 fifty day moving average price of $662.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $631.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $812.00 target price (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.