Wallington Asset Management LLC Acquires 50 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wallington Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,905 shares of company stock valued at $123,528,726 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $509.96 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $482.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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