Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,483 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.0% of Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.
Read Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7%
META opened at $763.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $707.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $648.07. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $478.65 and a 1 year high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.
Insider Activity
In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total value of $373,607.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,392,423. This trade represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 167,298 shares of company stock worth $116,742,790 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
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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