Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,579 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 4.0%, selling 1,579 shares and retaining 37,803 shares, worth approximately $21.79 million.
• Meta Platforms reported strong quarterly earnings, with $7.14 earnings per share exceeding analysts' expectations, contributing to a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.6%.
• The company's recent dividend payout was $0.525 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%, with a payout ratio of 7.60%.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,803 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,579 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. 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 purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,298 shares of company stock valued at $116,742,790. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded down $8.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $768.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,441,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,569,142. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $478.65 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $704.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $647.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend 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 7.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $820.32.

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.