Bridges Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 172,848 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.4% of Bridges Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Bridges Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $99,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $828.00 target price (up previously from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

META traded down $1.50 on Thursday, hitting $701.41. 11,776,575 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,365,357. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $683.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $637.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.