Naviter Wealth LLC Purchases 3,019 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 50.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,952 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.7% of Naviter Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased 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 report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $509.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $481.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $458.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. 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 data 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 firm 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total transaction of $8,502,988.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at $95,113,116.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total transaction of $8,502,988.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,113,116.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,395 shares of company stock worth $123,781,816. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.