EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 56 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock worth $154,398,206. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ META traded down $9.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $488.14. 24,044,658 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,151,374. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $542.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $494.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $478.31.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.84.

About Meta Platforms

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.