Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total value of $423,150.85. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,234,091.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total value of $423,150.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,234,091.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were 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 directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 349,174 shares of company stock valued at $175,146,777 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $527.42. 14,715,158 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,365,660. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $500.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $487.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

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.