Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 157,323 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.9%, selling 157,323 shares, leaving it with 1,164,674 shares valued at approximately $671.27 million.
• Several institutions, including JCIC Asset Management Inc, significantly increased their positions in Meta, highlighting strong institutional interest as about 79.91% of the stock is now held by institutional investors.
• Meta's stock price target has been raised by multiple analysts, with the consensus estimate now at $820.32, indicating a "Moderate Buy" rating from analysts.

Mackenzie Financial Corp cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,164,674 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 157,323 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.0% of Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $671,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $820.32.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

META stock opened at $750.01 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $450.80 and a twelve month high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $701.68 and a 200 day moving average of $645.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

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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