Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s 8th Largest Position

Key Points

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Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8,705.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 144,941 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 143,295 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.7% of Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $83,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after acquiring an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 target price (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total value of $393,054.42. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,268 shares in the company, valued at $4,005,049.68. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total transaction of $12,181,113.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 199,509 shares of company stock valued at $141,509,323 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $10.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $761.83. 8,992,014 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,465,054. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $709.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $648.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis 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 currently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms 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.