Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Raised by WD Rutherford LLC

WD Rutherford LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,156 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.9% of WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $697.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $610.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $621.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $77,550,434.92. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.