Fermata Advisors LLC Purchases 285 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fermata Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $572.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total value of $503,908.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,168 shares in the company, valued at $2,954,472. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total value of $503,908.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,168 shares in the company, valued at $2,954,472. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 319,158 shares of company stock worth $158,629,849 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $8.14 on Friday, reaching $517.77. 13,696,640 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,487,600. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $496.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $483.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $542.81.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued 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 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 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.