LifeSteps Financial Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LifeSteps Financial Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $572.51.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

META traded down $8.70 on Friday, reaching $528.63. 3,855,112 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,296,926. The company’s 50 day moving average is $499.79 and its 200-day moving average is $486.33. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.83.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total value of $8,827,174.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 72,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,302,705.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total transaction of $423,150.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,234,091.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total value of $8,827,174.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 72,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,302,705.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 349,174 shares of company stock worth $175,146,777 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.