Vista Capital Partners Inc. Buys New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vista Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 439 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $497.55 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $491.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.99. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $593.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 294,278 shares of company stock valued at $146,060,559 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% 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.