Echo45 Advisors LLC Has $785,000 Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Echo45 Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,617 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.6% of Echo45 Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after buying an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total value of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,794,965.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,794,965.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.68 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $480.46 and a 200 day moving average of $456.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.