Pictet North America Advisors SA Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pictet North America Advisors SA raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,643 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,086 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.1% of Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $808.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on 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. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ META traded down $0.66 during trading on Monday, hitting $718.35. The company had a trading volume of 9,438,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,524,462. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company's fifty day moving average is $658.89 and its 200-day moving average is $630.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total value of $382,503.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,360,362. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 153,677 shares of company stock valued at $105,221,340 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.