Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its shareholding in Meta Platforms by 8.3%, now owning 509,947 shares valued at approximately $293.9 million.
• Insiders, including CTO Andrew Bosworth and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have recently sold a total of 151,944 shares worth over $104.9 million in the past three months.
• Meta Platforms announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, which equates to an annualized dividend yield of 0.30%.

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 509,947 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 39,012 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.6% of Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $293,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Roth Capital raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

META stock traded down $23.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $750.01. The company had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $699.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $644.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,755,013.36. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.