Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,558 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 607 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $704.28. 12,743,944 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,336,421. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $686.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $637.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. 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 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,755,013.36. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.