Aspen Investment Management Inc Acquires 768 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aspen Investment Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 59.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,058 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 434,477 shares of company stock valued at $220,437,187. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

META traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $520.53. 2,956,866 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,100,945. The company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $544.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $503.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $491.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.83.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

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.