Northwest Wealth Management LLC Acquires 88 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northwest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,248 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 311,348 shares of company stock valued at $154,678,120. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $10.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $463.48. 4,717,322 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,127,890. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $493.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $473.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $542.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $525.66.

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.