Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Acquires 28 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. S.A. Mason LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Madison Wealth Partners Inc boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the first quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $509.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $480.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $458.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.