Sky Investment Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sky Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,227 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $682.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $604.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $619.26.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.00, for a total value of $363,819.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,457,283. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 86,201 shares of company stock worth $56,377,837 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $704.26.

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.