Capital Investment Counsel Inc Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,404 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Capital Investment Counsel Inc's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $724.98.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:META traded up $2.32 on Tuesday, hitting $720.67. 7,752,797 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,497,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company's 50-day moving average price is $662.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $631.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total transaction of $382,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,626 shares in the company, valued at $20,360,362. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 152,756 shares of company stock valued at $104,720,878. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.