Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 418 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $494.78 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $478.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $447.50.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 313,169 shares of company stock worth $153,344,736. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.