Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Buys 398 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 49.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,199 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th 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 increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th 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 increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th 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 increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th 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. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total transaction of $393,054.42. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,049.68. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total transaction of $399,835.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at $19,436,673.30. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 275,024 shares of company stock valued at $199,983,159 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0%

META stock opened at $769.30 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $651.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.27. 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 $479.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. 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 is 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.

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