Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Generate Investment Management Ltd

Generate Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 61.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,131 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 54,052 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 5.7% of Generate Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Generate Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total value of $9,796,340.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,862,237.92. This trade represents a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ META opened at $733.63 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.26. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $638.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $626.48.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.52.

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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