D Orazio & Associates Inc. Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $524.62 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $505.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $495.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.