Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Boosted by Institute for Wealth Management LLC.

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,559 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.5% of Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.1% in the first quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the first quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 30,070 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $17,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,804 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, BostonPremier Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. BostonPremier Wealth LLC now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:META opened at $682.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $618.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $623.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total transaction of $5,836,104.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,048,632.36. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,031 shares of company stock valued at $73,954,565 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.