J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 34.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,046 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 17,398 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.9% of J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total value of $383,081.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares in the company, valued at $5,818,837.41. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 153,766 shares of company stock valued at $105,135,650. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of META stock traded up $5.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $718.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,963,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,525,231. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $651.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $628.50. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.