Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 48 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Roth Mkm increased their price objective 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. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total transaction of $8,916,696.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,104,462.66. 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $3.93 on Friday, reaching $528.00. 11,304,691 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. The company has a 50-day moving average of $502.48 and a 200-day moving average of $490.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $276.03 and a 1-year high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.