Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 439,353 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 7,231 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.8% of Empower Advisory Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $253,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,030,399,000 after purchasing an additional 280,357 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0%
NASDAQ:META opened at $769.30 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $651.01.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the 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. Insiders sold 275,024 shares of company stock valued at $199,983,159 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.
About Meta Platforms
(
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.
Further Reading
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