Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,934 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,950 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,104 shares of company stock valued at $35,270,242 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:META opened at $694.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $589.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $616.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.