Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $563.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $573.98. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $510.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $498.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on META. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 target price for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $578.92.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.41, for a total value of $211,936.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,707,352.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.41, for a total transaction of $211,936.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,707,352.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 349,472 shares of company stock worth $182,544,600 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.