Brighton Jones LLC Purchases 4,745 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 39,296 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 4,745 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fjell Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $334,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $112,406,000. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.00, for a total value of $363,819.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $20,457,283. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.8%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $702.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $607.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $620.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.88.

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.