Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Verum Partners LLC

Verum Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 663 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $509.96 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $481.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.42. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total transaction of $8,402,442.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 204,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,769,182.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 252,395 shares of company stock valued at $123,781,816. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.