Accuvest Global Advisors Acquires Shares of 6,643 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Accuvest Global Advisors recently made a significant new investment of $3.83 million in Meta Platforms, acquiring 6,643 shares, which represent about 3.3% of their total holdings.
• Total institutional ownership of Meta Platforms, Inc. is high at 79.91%, indicating strong support from large investors, with many increasing their stakes in the company during the last quarter.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with updates including a target increase to $980.00 by Loop Capital, while the company maintains a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Accuvest Global Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,643 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $3,829,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 3.3% of Accuvest Global Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $9.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $780.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,791,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,392,969. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $795.46. The company's 50 day moving average is $718.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $653.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $765.11, for a total transaction of $12,124,698.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total transaction of $399,835.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,436,673.30. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 289,356 shares of company stock valued at $211,138,344 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% 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.