Eagle Global Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 304.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,428 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,374 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Roth Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $782.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company's 50-day moving average is $722.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $654.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $795.46.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.