SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Buys 36 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,664 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.5% of SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Barclays lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,171 shares of company stock worth $35,163,457. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $697.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $587.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $614.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.