Santori & Peters Inc. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Santori & Peters Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 451 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 13,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,272,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $381,867,000 after purchasing an additional 98,788 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,802 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares in the last quarter. Tenere Capital LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 60.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 45,816 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,754,000 after purchasing an additional 17,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 78,473 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,558,000 after purchasing an additional 29,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at $95,113,116.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at $95,113,116.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,395 shares of company stock worth $123,781,816 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on META. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $509.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $481.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve 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.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.