WJ Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WJ Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. WJ Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,314,722 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,496,450,000 after buying an additional 592,085 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 69.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after buying an additional 11,033 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA grew its position in Meta Platforms by 503.5% during the third quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 22,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,881,000 after buying an additional 19,122 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,211,935 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $664,045,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,579,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 201,557 shares of company stock worth $97,894,296. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of META opened at $504.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $480.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $455.62.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Company 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.