M3 Advisory Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

M3 Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 41.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,381 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $696,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ META traded up $9.42 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $536.15. 4,744,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,201,267. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $501.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $489.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $276.03 and a 12 month high of $542.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,817. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 384,783 shares of company stock worth $194,001,589 in the last ninety 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.