Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Has $110.86 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, owning 192,340 shares after a 5.4% boost during the 1st quarter, making it the company's 8th largest holding.
• Several hedge funds have also increased their investments in Meta Platforms, contributing to institutional investors owning approximately 79.91% of the company's stock.
• Meta Platforms reported an EPS of $6.43 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing an annual yield of 0.29%.

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 192,340 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,836 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.1% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $110,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in 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 worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in 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 and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $845.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $754.07.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded down $6.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $711.47. 3,558,057 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,318,961. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $694.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $642.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.41, for a total value of $365,213.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,451,795.82. This trade represents a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 151,944 shares of company stock worth $104,965,570 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms 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.