PAX Financial Group LLC Has $707,000 Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

PAX Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,455 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $707,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $181,000. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 938 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 229,354 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $81,182,000 after purchasing an additional 37,175 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of META stock traded down $22.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $466.24. The company had a trading volume of 8,943,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,134,751. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $474.03. The company has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $195,642.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,389.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 310,933 shares of company stock valued at $154,451,206. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.33.

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.