Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 513 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in 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 firm bought 513 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $234,000. LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.2% during the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 7,164 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,479,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $308,000. Breakwater Capital Group raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the first quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 2,629 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Financial llc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $480.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $456.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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 MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total transaction of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total transaction of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total transaction of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,690,084.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.