Prentice Wealth Management LLC Buys 70 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the first quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the first quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 8,549 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 4,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META traded up $2.07 on Wednesday, hitting $512.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,880,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,468,744. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $478.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price for the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.00, for a total value of $206,824.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,619 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,738. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,145 shares of company stock worth $99,707,031 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.