Prakash Investment Advisors LLC Has $8.44 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prakash Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,640 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 9.3% of Prakash Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Prakash Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st 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. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of META opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $651.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,766 shares of company stock worth $105,135,650 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

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