Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 170,981 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 4.3% of NS Partners Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. NS Partners Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $98,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 10,536 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464 shares during the period. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,346 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd now owns 19,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,951,000 after buying an additional 7,037 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 471,191 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $271,598,000 after buying an additional 10,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations now owns 33,683 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $19,414,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $765.87 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $716.43 and its 200-day moving average is $652.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $784.75. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 289,356 shares of company stock valued at $211,138,344. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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