Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 57.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,340 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,126 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 310,933 shares of company stock worth $154,451,206 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective 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 raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $521.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $460.61. 9,592,777 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,149,992. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $493.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $473.94. The company has a market cap of $1.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.