Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.9% of Invesco Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.70% of Meta Platforms worth $10,184,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berger Financial Group Inc raised its position in Meta Platforms by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 5,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,882,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $10,366,000. Fiduciary Family Office LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $4,046,000. Taylor Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Taylor Financial Group Inc. now owns 538 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $653,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four 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, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $780.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $720.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $653.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $795.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total value of $814,231.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total value of $399,835.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,436,673.30. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 292,211 shares of company stock valued at $215,232,155. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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.
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