Secure Asset Management LLC Buys 9,073 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 103.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,874 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,073 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.7% of Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ META traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $528.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,304,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $276.03 and a 52 week high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $490.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 418,680 shares of company stock valued at $211,992,147. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.