Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 61.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,142,252 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 436,614 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Cerity Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $658,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $729.38.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ META traded down $10.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $710.39. 11,499,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,426,312. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $677.20 and a 200 day moving average of $635.41. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,263 shares of company stock worth $104,638,750. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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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