Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 147,728 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 17,315 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $85,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META stock opened at $780.08 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $795.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $720.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $653.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total value of $398,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total transaction of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 292,211 shares of company stock worth $215,232,155 over the last three months. 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.

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