John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Invests $232,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 315 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,366,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 2,276 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,680,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballast Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 601.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 4,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $751.44 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $741.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $694.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $897.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $829.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,820,861.75. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 213,146 shares of company stock worth $164,208,279. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.