PCG Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 386 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $223,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $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 Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth 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. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 target price (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays decreased 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $752.33.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%
NASDAQ:META traded down $2.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $712.68. The stock had a trading volume of 8,253,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,556,341. The business's 50 day moving average is $692.48 and its 200 day moving average is $641.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $747.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
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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