Ballentine Partners LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,906 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.6% of Ballentine Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total transaction of $370,947.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,892,632.50. This trade represents a 7.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $375,278.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,225,251.04. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $704.28. 12,726,009 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,359,025. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $683.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $637.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

About Meta Platforms

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.