Fiduciary Family Office LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fiduciary Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,046,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of Fiduciary Family Office LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $780.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $795.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $720.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $653.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 292,211 shares of company stock valued at $215,232,155 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

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.