CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong Acquires New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited in Hong Kong has acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, purchasing 108,495 shares valued at approximately $62.53 million, making it the fund's 4th largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors, including Valley Financial Group and Riverwater Partners, have also recently adjusted their stakes in Meta Platforms.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Meta Platforms, with JPMorgan Chase increasing its target from $735 to $795, reflecting strong growth expectations for the company.

CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 108,495 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $62,532,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 5.0% of CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $369,655.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,136,275. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ:META traded down $23.43 on Friday, reaching $750.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $450.80 and a 12-month high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $699.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $644.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.