Nutshell Asset Management Ltd Acquires 7,037 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Nutshell Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 58.8% in the first quarter, making it the fund's 7th largest position valued at approximately $10.95 million.
• Analysts have revised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Barclays setting a new target at $810.00 and a consensus target price of $822.41, indicating a general optimism towards the stock.
• Insiders, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, sold shares worth over $12 million recently, contributing to a total of approximately $211 million in insider sales over the past ninety days.

Nutshell Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 58.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,037 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 5.7% of Nutshell Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3%

META stock traded up $2.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $782.43. The stock had a trading volume of 6,732,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,334,524. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $795.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $720.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $653.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 292,211 shares of company stock worth $215,232,155 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.