Founders Financial Securities LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Voyager Global Management LP lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 400.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 166,403 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $58,900,000 after acquiring an additional 7,415 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $500.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $505.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.