Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,773 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.93, for a total value of $333,428.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,398,350.53. This represents a 4.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,652 shares of company stock worth $34,815,208. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $687.95 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $583.27 and a 200-day moving average of $613.00.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.