Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 25.1% in Q1, holding a total of 7,681 shares worth approximately $4.43 million.
• Meta Platforms reported Q2 earnings of $7.14 per share, exceeding analyst estimates by $1.39, with a total revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Bank of America setting a new target of $900, while the consensus target price is now $811.31.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 25.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,681 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,541 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,030,399,000 after buying an additional 280,357 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $23.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $750.01. The stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $450.80 and a twelve month high of $784.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $701.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $645.68.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.