TrueWealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

TrueWealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 67.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 947 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. TrueWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of META traded down $3.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $528.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,304,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. The company’s 50-day moving average is $502.48 and its 200-day moving average is $490.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $276.03 and a 52-week high of $544.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,298.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total value of $8,916,696.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,918 shares in the company, valued at $81,104,462.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,298.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 418,680 shares of company stock valued at $211,992,147 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.