Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Robbins Farley

Robbins Farley increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,721 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.1% of Robbins Farley’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Robbins Farley’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $572.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total value of $423,150.85. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,234,091.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total transaction of $423,150.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,275 shares in the company, valued at $20,234,091.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 349,174 shares of company stock valued at $175,146,777 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of META stock traded up $10.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $537.33. 13,462,497 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,375,996. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $498.92 and a 200 day moving average of $485.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.