Applied Capital LLC FL Buys 1,181 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Applied Capital LLC FL grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.7% of Applied Capital LLC FL’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.8% during the first quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 18,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,894,000 after acquiring an additional 3,868 shares during the period. Iams Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 135.9% during the first quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,062 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,345,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $653,229,000 after acquiring an additional 8,090 shares during the period. Finally, WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 43.6% during the first quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 2,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,167,719.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $509.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $531.49. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.