First Affirmative Financial Network Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Affirmative Financial Network increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.0% of First Affirmative Financial Network’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 77,412 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.82, for a total value of $39,079,125.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,169 shares of company stock valued at $153,344,736 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $494.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $478.61 and a 200 day moving average of $448.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.