Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,968 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,001,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $511.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $505.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $215,586.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,598 shares in the company, valued at $7,098,156. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $215,586.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 13,598 shares in the company, valued at $7,098,156. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 373,371 shares of company stock worth $193,535,153. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. 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 report on Monday, July 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.