Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 429 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 429 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $694.14 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $597.08 and a 200 day moving average of $617.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $702.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,453,384. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 85,682 shares of company stock worth $56,014,018. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.