Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,196 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,263 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $30,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms recently issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,803 shares of company stock worth $235,276,424 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ:META traded down $6.6610 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $744.8190. 8,958,926 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,279,813. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $726.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $656.42.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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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