United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 232,703 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 9,735 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 5.5% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $134,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.
Read Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1%
META opened at $771.99 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $709.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $648.93.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 presently 7.60%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 199,509 shares of company stock worth $141,509,323 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Profile
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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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