Kowal Investment Group LLC Acquires 711 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,995 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 711 shares during the quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $480.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $456.83. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total value of $252,164.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,794,965.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.