Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 2,608 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,608 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st 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 period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

META opened at $561.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $507.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $497.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $564.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 356,426 shares of company stock worth $185,053,425 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Susquehanna raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $660.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.