Blair William & Co. IL Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 46.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 551,158 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 173,886 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.0% of Blair William & Co. IL's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $317,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after acquiring an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $761.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $711.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $649.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75.

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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,024 shares of company stock valued at $188,466,159. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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