Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 19.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 145,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 35,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 5.7% of Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $83,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 target price (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $729.38.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%
Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $717.51. The stock had a trading volume of 10,847,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,488,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $747.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $672.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $633.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.28.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. 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.
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