J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 73.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,652 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,964 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.2% of J.Safra Asset Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. J.Safra Asset Management Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth 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 position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.29.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,677 shares of company stock valued at $105,221,340 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ:META traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $718.35. 9,438,384 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,524,462. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The company's 50 day moving average price is $662.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $631.21.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 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.
Further Reading
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Learn the basics of options trading and how to use them to boost returns and manage risk with this free report from MarketBeat. Click the link below to get your free copy.
Get This Free Report
