Exeter Financial LLC Takes $244,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Exeter Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 477 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Madison Wealth Partners Inc grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Grandview Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the first quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 8,549 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $5.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $518.23. 6,363,448 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,419,121. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $479.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,737,915.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,737,915.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 232,607 shares of company stock valued at $113,147,760 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.