LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC Invests $206,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 425 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Little House Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 79.2% during the first quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 14,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,180,000 after acquiring an additional 6,534 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% during the first quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 3,995 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,940,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $655,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.1% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 57,567 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,953,000 after acquiring an additional 3,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caerus Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $231,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at $109,690,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at $109,690,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $504.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $456.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for 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, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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.