LexAurum Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LexAurum Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $587.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $615.18. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total value of $348,249.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,930,042. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the 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 $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,171 shares of company stock valued at $35,163,457 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

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.