Andra AP fonden Buys 181,412 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Andra AP fonden raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 126.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 324,901 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 181,412 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of Andra AP fonden's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Andra AP fonden's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $185,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $595.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $604.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $625.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price target on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $671.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc NASDAQ: META, formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta's core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

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