Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Boosted by Huntleigh Advisors Inc.

Huntleigh Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,933 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,395 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of Huntleigh Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Huntleigh Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $720.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $665.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $631.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 152,756 shares of company stock valued at $104,720,878. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 target price (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $724.98.

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.

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