Tradewinds LLC. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 50.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,258 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 423 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds LLC.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in 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 valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,792 shares of company stock worth $105,466,325 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $729.38.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META stock traded down $9.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. The company had a trading volume of 10,855,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,480,953. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $674.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $634.17.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
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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