Charter Oak Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Charter Oak Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 672 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fjell Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $334,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 26,312 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,406,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $587.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $615.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

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.