Hoxton Planning & Management LLC Acquires New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Hoxton Planning & Management LLC has acquired 3,281 shares of Meta Platforms, valued at approximately $1.89 million, making it the 29th largest position in their portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 79.91% of Meta Platforms, with significant stake increases from firms like Capital World Investors and GAMMA Investing.
• Meta Platforms recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equating to a 0.3% dividend yield, alongside a positive earnings report with revenue growth of 21.6% year-over-year.

Hoxton Planning & Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,281 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,891,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of Hoxton Planning & Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted 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 buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 a total of 167,298 shares of company stock valued at $116,742,790 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7%

META stock traded down $12.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $763.46. 11,612,061 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,355,778. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50-day moving average is $704.66 and its 200-day moving average is $647.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $478.65 and a 12 month high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

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.