Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 697 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 68.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,711 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $12.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $465.70. 14,222,388 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,931,730. The company has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $542.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $493.20 and its 200 day moving average is $475.36. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 for 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, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.23 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,206,674. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares in the company, valued at $17,206,674. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 311,348 shares of company stock worth $154,678,120 in the last 90 days. 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.