NewSquare Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 221.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $574.41.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,377,575.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ META opened at $531.93 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $276.03 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $490.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.