Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys 172 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,012 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the quarter. Beam Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in 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 period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,905 shares of company stock valued at $123,528,726 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $23.84 on Friday, reaching $533.80. 13,541,656 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,224,839. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $482.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $458.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $535.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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